'  '  UNIVERSITY  OF   CALIFORNIA 


DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 


GIFT   OF  THE   PUBLISHER 


^0.     7^  ^r  Received   f  ^  ^^^. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/englishhistoryfoOOhiggrich 


ENGLISH     HISTORY 


FOR 


AMERICANS 


'ENGLISH    HISTORY 


FOR 


AMERICANS 


BY 


OtJL 


THOMAS    VVENTVVORTH    HIGGINSON 

CORRESPONDING   MEMBER   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   OF 

CANADA;    AUTHOR   OK   "YOUNG   FOLKS'    HISTORY 

OF   THE   UNITED   STATES,"   ETC 


EDWARD    CHANNING 

PROFESSOR    OF    HISTORY    IN     HARVARD    UNIVERSITY;    AUTHOR    OF 
"a   students'    history   of  THE   UNITED  STATES,"    ETC. 


Neiij  3£tJition 

REVISED    AND     ENLARGED 


NEW   YORK 
LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 

LONDON  AND   BOMBAY 
1903 


r\  / 


-,-5 


Copyright,  189S, 
By  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co. 

Copyright,  1902, 
By  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co. 

All  rights  reserved. 


First  Edition,  August,  1893. 

Reprinted  August,  1894,  March,  1S96  (Revised). 

July,   1897  (Revised),  June,   189S. 

January  and  November,  1899,  October,  1900, 

and  August,  1902  (Revised  and  enlarged). 

September,  1903. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFATORY  NOTE  TO   REVISED   EDITION. 


TN  the  preparation  of  this  revised  edition,  the  authors 
-■-  have  been  guided  by  the  thought  that  the  study  of 
EngUsh  history  in  our  schools  generally  precedes  that 
of  the  United  States.  No  attempt,  therefore,  has  been 
made  here  to  duplicate  the  matter  which  properly  be- 
longs in  a  text-book  of  American  history. 

The  authors  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  Dr.  Arthur 
Lyon  Cross,  Instructor  in  History  in  the  University  of 
Michigan,  who  read  the  proofs  of  this  edition,  and 
by  Miss  Eva  G.  Moore,  who  contributed  the  excellent 
Index. 

Cambridge,  Mass., 
June,  1902. 


221714 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.    The  Geography  of  Britain i 

II.    Early  Britain 6 

III.  How  Britain  became  England 14 

IV.  Alfred  and  Canute 21 

V.    The  Norman  Conquest 27 

VI.    The  Norman  Kings 36 

VII.  Henry    the    Second    and    Richard    the    Lion- 

Hearted 41 

VIII,    King  John  and  Magna  Charta 47 

IX.     Henry  III 52 

X.  Edward  the  First  and  Edward,  his  Son    ...  56 

XI.    Edward  III 64 

XII.    Richard  II 76 

XIII.  England  in  the  Fourteenth  Century     ....  81 

XIV.  The  First  Two  Lancastrian  Kings 86 

XV.     Henry  VI 92 

XVI.    The  Yorkist  Kings 96 

XVII.  Social  Changes  during  the  Fifteenth  Century  ioi 

XVIII.    Henry  VII 107 

XIX.    Henry  VIII no 

XX.    Edward  VI 125 

XXI.    Mary  the  Catholic 128 

XXII.    Elizabeth 133 

XXIII.  State  of  Society 155 

XXIV.  James  1 160 


VlU  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Page 

XXV.    Charles  1 171 

XXyi.    The  Civil  Wars 190 

XXVII.    The  Commonwealth 202 

XXVIII.    The  Protectorate 208 

XXIX.    The  Restored  Stuarts 216 

XXX.  The  "  Glorious  Revolution  "  of  1688-1689    .     .  230 

XXXI.  The  First  Constitutional  Monarchs    ....  236 

XXXII.    George  1 251 

XXXIII.  George  II 256 

XXXIV.  George  III.    Part  L,  1760-1783 266 

XXXV.    George  III.    Part  II.,  1783-1820 288 

XXXVI.    George  IV 308 

XXXVII.    William  IV 313 

XXXVIII.    Victoria.     Part  L,  1837-1865 319 

XXXIX.    Victoria.     Part  II.,  1865-1901 339 

INDEX 359 


GENEALOGIES  —  MAPS. 


GENEALOGIES. 

Pack 

The  Norman  Kings 37 

The  Earlier  Plantagenets 51 

Succession  to  the  Scottish  Throne  in  1290 57 

Succession  to  the  French  Crown,  1328 66 

The  Later  Plantagenets 79 

The  Claims  of  Lancaster  and  York 90 

Lancasters  and  Tudors 99 

The  Howards 114 

The  Tudors 123 

The  Stuarts 170 

The  House  of  Hanover 250 


MAPS. 

1.  Physical  Map  of  England facing      2 

2.  Roman  Britain "  6 

3.  England  in  878 "  22 

4.  The  Dominions  of  Henry  II "  42 

5.  England  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses "  96 

6.  England  and  Wales.     1485- 1603 "  132 

7.  England  at  the  beginning  of  the  Puritan  Rebellion    .     .         "  190 

8.  England  since  the  Restoration "  236 

9.  Ireland,  1641-1902 "  328 

10.  The  World,  1772  )  showing      growth    of     the     British 

11.  The  World,  1902  )  Empire after  375 


LANDMARKS   IN   CONSTITUTIONAL   HISTORY. 


[For  the  use  of  advanced  students.] 

Date  Page 

Character  of  the  English  Conquest  of  Britain i6 

Institutions  of  the  English 17 

827         Union  of  the  Kingdoms  under  Egbert  of  Wessex      ...  20 

1066         The  Norman  Conquest 30 

1086         Domesday  Book  and  the  Oath  of  Salisbury  Plain      ...  31 
1154-89  Reforms  of  Henry  II.  in  the  Administration  of  Justice  and 

in  Finance 41 

1 164         The  Constitutions  of  Clarendon 42 

1 21 5        Magna  Charta 49 

1265         Earl  Simon  of  Montfort's  Parliament 53 

1295        The  First  Perfect  Parliament 59 

1297         Confirmation  of  the  Charters 60 

1327         Edward  II.  deposed  by  Parliament 61 

1332         Separation  of  Parliament  into  two  Houses 71 

1353         Statute  of  Praemunire jt, 

1399         Abdication  of  Richard  II 78 

1407         The  Commons  obtain  the  Right  to  originate  Money-Bills  .  86 

1430         Restriction  of  the  Franchise 95 

1461         The  Practice  of  Passing  Statutes  begins 104 

1487         Court  of  Star  Chamber  established 108 

1494        Poynings'  Law 149 

1534        First  Act  of  Supremacy 118 

1583         High  Commission  Court .     .  144 

1601         The  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth 157 

The  "  Divine  Right  of  Kings  " 167 

1621         The  Great  Protestation 169 

1628         The  Petition  of  Right , 172 


LANDMARKS  IN   CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY.  XI 

Datb  Pagb 

1629        Sir  John  Eliot's  Resolutions 174 

1634-36  Ship-Money 178 

1640  Meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament 183 

164 1  Constitutional  Reforms 185 

1641         The  Grand  Remonstrance 186 

1649         Establishment  of  the  Commonwealth 198 

1653         The  Instrument  of  Government 206 

1657         The  Petition  and  Advice 210 

1660         The  Restoration 213 

1660        Act  of  Indemnity  and  Oblivion 218 

i66t  )      The   Corporation  Act,  Act   of   Uniformity,  Conventicle  ) 

1665  )  Act,  and  Five  Mile  Act [-9 

1673        The  Test  Act 224 

1679        Habeas  Corpus  Act 226 

1688  Declaration  of  Indulgence 231 

1688-89  The  "Glorious  Revolution" '    •     •     ■     •  233 

1689  The  Declaration  of  Rights 235 

1689         The  Mutiny  Bill 236 

1689        The  Toleration  Act 237 

1695        Liberty  of  the  Press 242 

1701         Act  of  Settlement 251 

1707         Union  with  Scotland 247 

17 1 5  Riot  Act 252 

17 16  Septennial  Act 252 

1721         Rise  of  Cabinet  Government 254 

Character  of  the  Whig  Administrations 255 

1763        Wilkes  and  General  Warrants 268 

Constitutional  Relations  of  the  Colonies  to  Great  Britain  .  271 

1765  The  Stamp  Act 271 

1766  The  Declaratory  Act 272 

"  The  King's  Friends  " 273 

1768        The  Middlesex  Election 273 

Economical  Reform 280 

1783        The  "Coalition"  dismissed 288 

1788        The  Regency  Struggle 291 

1801         The  Union  with  Ireland 297 

1829        Catholic  Emancipation 311 

1832        The  First  Reform  Act 315 

1839        The  Bedchamber  Question 322 

The  Chartists 328 


XU  LANDMARKS    IN   CONSTITUTIONAL   HISTORY. 

Date  Page 

1858         Jews  admitted  to  Parliament 333 

186S         Second  Reform  Act 339 

1868  Compulsory  Church  Rates  abolished 339 

1869  Disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church 340 

1870  The  Irish  Land  Act 340 

1872        The  Ballot  Act 345 

1884        Third  Reform  Act 345 


IMPORTANT  DATES.  Xlll 


IMPORTANT  DATES. 

55  B.  C.  Csesar  in  Britain. 

410  A.  D.  The  Romans  leave  Britain. 

449.  The  Jutes  settle  on  the  coast  of  Kent. 

597.  St.  Augustine's  Mission. 

827  (about)  Egbert  of  Wessex,  Overlord  of  all  England. 

871-901.  Alfred  the  Great. 

878.  Treaty  of  Wedmore  with  the  Danes. 

[1000.  Leif  Ericsson  discovers  America.] 

10' 7-35-  Canute,  the  Dane,  King  of  England. 

1066.  Battle  of  Hastings. 

1066-87.  William  the  Conqueror,  The  Norman  Conquest. 

1086.  Domesday  Book. 

1154-89.  Henry  II. <Plantagenet. 

1 1 70.  Murder  of  Becket. 

1215.  King  John  grants  Magna  Charta. 

1265.  Earl  Simon's  Parliament. 

1265.  Battle  of  Evesham. 

1 272-1 307.  Edward  I. 

1276-84.  Conquest  of  Wales. 

1295.  The  First  Perfect  Parliament. 

1295.  War  with  Scotland  begins. 

1297.  Confirmation  of  the  Charters. 

1298.  Battle  of  Falkirk. 

1 3 14.  Battle  of  Bannockburn. 

1327-1377.  Edward  III. 

1338.  Beginning  of  the  French  Wars. 

1346.  Battle  of  Cressy. 

1348-50.  The  Black  Death. 

1353.  Statute  of  Praemunire. 

1356.  Battle  of  Poitiers. 

1 381.  The  Peasants'  Revolt. 

1415.  Battle  of  Agincourt. 

1455.  Wars  of  the  Roses  begin. 


XIV 


IMPORTANT  DATES. 


1485. 

Battle  of  Bosworth. 

1485-1509. 

Henry  VII.,  Tudor. 

[1492. 

Columbus  discovers  America.] 

1 509-1 547. 

Henry  VIJI/v     ' 

1513- 

Battle  of  Flodden. 

1534. 

The  Keformatioii  in  England. 

1553-1558. 

Mary  the  Catholic. 

1558-1603. 

Elizabeth. 

1587. 

Execution  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 

1588. 

Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada. 

I 603-1 625. 

James  I. 

1605. 

Gunpowder  Plot. 

[1607. 

Settlement  of  Jamestown.] 

[1620. 

The  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.] 

I 625- I 649. 

Charles  I.. 

1628. 

The  Petition  of  Right. 

1629. 

Sir  John  Eliot's  Resolutions. 

1637. 

Hampden's  Case  (ship-money). 

1640. 

The  Long  Parliament  meets. 

1 641. 

Execution  of  Strafford. 

1641. 

The  Grand  Remonstrance. 

1642. 

Civil  War  begins. 

1644. 

Oliver  Cromwell  wins  battle  of  Marston  Moor. 

1645. 

Battle  of  Naseby. 

1648. 

Battle  of  Preston. 

1649. 

Execution  of  Charles  I. 

1 649- 1 653. 

The  Commonwealth. 

1653-1659. 

The  Protectorate. 

1660. 

The  Restoration. 

1 660-1685. 

Charles  II. 

1665. 

The  Plague. 

1666. 

The  Fire  of  London. 

1673. 

The  Test  Act. 

1678. 

The^opish  Plot. 

I 685-1 688. 

J^sII. 

1685. 

/Monmouth's  Rebellion. 

1688-1689./ 

The  Glorious  Revolution. 

1 689-1 702. 

William  and  Mary. 

1702-17^4. 

Queen  Anne. 

IMPORTANT  DATES.  XV 


1704. 

Battle  of  Blenheim. 

1707. 

Union  with  Scotland. 

1714-1727. 

George  I. 

1721-1742. 

Sir  Robert  Walpole,  Prime  Minister. 

1 727-1 760. 

George  II. 

1746. 

Battle  of  Culloden. 

[1754. 

Beginning  of  French  and   Indian  War  in  America, 

Quebec  captured,  1759.] 

1758. 

William  Pitt,  Chief  Minister. 

1 760-1 820. 

George  III. 

1765. 

The  Stamp  Act. 

1774- 

Boston  Port  Act. 

1781. 

Surrender  of  Yorktown. 

1783-1801. 

William  Pitt,  the  Younger,  Prime  Minister. 

1801. 

Union  with  Ireland. 

1812-1815. 

War  of  181 2  with  the  United  States. 

1815. 

Battle  of  Waterloo, 

I 820-1 830. 

George  IV. 

1829. 

Catholic  Emancipation. 

1830-1837. 

William  IV. 

1832. 

The  First  Beform  Act. 

1833. 

Emancipation  of  Slaves. 

1837-1901. 

Queen  Victoria. 

1846. 

Repeal  of  Corn  Laws. 

1854. 

Crimean  War. 

1857. 

Sepoy  Mutiny. 

1899. 

Boer  War  begins. 

1901- 

Edward  VII. 

XVI 


ENGLISH   KINGS   SINCE  THE   CONQUEST. 


ENGLISH    KINGS    SINCE    THE    NORMAN 
CONQUEST. 

The  Norman  Kings. 

1 066- 1 087.  William  the  Conqueror. 

1087-1100.  William  Rufus  (William  II.). 

1100-1135.  Henry  I. 

1 1 35-1 1 54.  Stephen. 


The  Plantagenets. 

1 1 54-1 1 89. 

Henry  II.,  Plantagenet. 

1 1 89-1 199. 

Richard  the  Lion-Hearted. 

1 199-1216. 

John  (Lackland). 

I2I6-I272. 

Henry  III. 

I272-I307. 

Edward  I. 

I307-I327. 

Edward  II. 

1327-1377- 

Edward  III. 

1377-1399- 

Richard  11. 

Lancaster  and  York 

1399-1413- 

Henry  IV.  (of  Lancaster). 

I4I3-I422. 

Henry  V. 

I 422- I 460. 

Henry  VI. 

I46I-I483. 

Edward  IV.  (of  York). 

1483. 

Edward  V. 

1483-1485. 

Richard  III. 

The  Tudors. 

1485-1509. 

Henry  VII.  (Tudor). 

1 509-1 547. 

Henry  VIII. 

1547-1553- 

Edward  VI. 

I553-I558. 

Mary  the  Catholic. 

I558-I603. 

Elizabeth. 

ENGLISH   KINGS   SINCE  THE  CONQUEST.  XVll 


The  Stuarts. 

I603-I625. 

James  I. 

I 625- I 649. 

Charles  I. 

[ I 649-1 660. 

Commonwealth  and  Protectorate.] 

I660-I685. 

Charles  II. 

1 685-1 688. 

James  II. 

1 689- 1 702. 

William  and  Mary  (Mary  dies  1694). 

1 702-1714. 

Anne. 

The  Hanoverians. 

1 7 14-1727. 

George  I. 

1 727-1 760. 

George  II. 

1 760-1 820. 

George  III. 

1 820- 1 830. 

George  IV. 

1 830-1 837. 

William.  IV. 

1837-1901. 

Victoria. 

1901- 

Edward  VII. 

LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

Views  of  Parts  of  the  Roman  Wall 4,  12 

View  of  Stonehenge 9 

Rural  Life  (Eleventh  Century) 24,  33 

An  English  Vessel 25 

Silver  Penny  (time  of  William  I.) 34 

Saxon  Horsemen -    .     .     .  35 

Seal,  showing  Mounted  Armed  Figure  (time  of  Henry  I.)  .     .    .     ,  40 

Effigies  of  Henry  II.  and  Queen  Eleanor 44 

Effigy  of  a  Knight,  showing  armor  worn  between  1 190-1225    ...  53 

Seal,  showing  Mounted  Knight  in  Mail  Armor  (about  1265)  ...  54 

Armed  Knights  (about  1300) 62 

State  Carriage  (Fourteenth  Century) :  from  the  Luttrell  Psalter , 

"  Vetusta  Monumenta  " 65 

Tomb  of  Edward  III.  in  Westminster  Abbey 70 

Contemporary  View  of  a  Walled  Town  (Fourteenth  Century)     .     .  72 

Royal  Arms  of  England  (Richard  I.  to  Edward  III.) 75 

Rural  Life  (Fourteenth  Century) 'JT,  1^ 

Gold   Noble    (time   of   Edward  III.) ,  83 

Geoffrey  Chaucer  {from  Harl.  MS.  4866) 84 

Effigy  of  Knight  in  Plate-armor  (about  1460) 88 

A  Fifteenth-Century  Ship 104 

Royal  Arms  (1408-1603) 106 

Tudor  Rose 109 

Henry  VIII iii 

Sir  Thomas  More 117 

Angel  of  Henry  VIII.  (1543) 122 

Queen  Mary  Tudor 129 

Queen  Elizabeth  (1588) 134 

William  Shakspere 136 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots 141 

Sir  Francis  Drake 147 

WilHam  Cecil,  Lord  Burleigh 152 

Coaches  in  the  Reign  of  Elizabeth 156 

Mounted  Soldier  (1596) 158 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xix 

Page 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh i6i 

James  I i66 

Military  Equipment  (Seventeenth  Century) i68 

Charles  1 173 

The  "Sovereign  of  the  Seas"  (1637) 179 

Coach  (Seventeenth  Century) 187 

Oliver  Cromwell 192 

Wagon  (Seventeenth  Century) 199 

John  Milton 205 

Charles  II 217 

WilHam  III 238 

Mary  II 239 

Queen  Anne 245 

Yeoman  of  the  Guard  (Seventeenth  Century) 247 

Royal  Arms  (1603-17 14) 248 

George  1 253 

Costumes  and  Sedan  Chair  (about  1720) 255 

Sir  Robert  Walpole 257 

George  II 259 

William  Pitt  (afterwards  Earl  of  Chatham) 263 

Coach  (about  1700) 265 

George  III.  (in  1767) 267 

The  House  of  Commons  in  1741-42 269 

Costumes  of  Persons  of  Quality  (about  1783) 282 

Edmund  Burke 285 

William  Pitt 290 

Headdress  of  a  Lady  (about  1778) 292 

Lord  Nelson 300 

The  Duke  of  Wellington 302 

George  III.  in  old  age 306 

George  Canning 310 

Old  Sarum 314 

Royal  Arms  (i8oi-i8r6) 318 

Queen  Victoria 320 

Sir  Robert  Peel 326 

Lord  John  Russell 334 

Royal  Arms  at  accession  of  Victoria 337 

Mr.  Gladstone 342 

Lord  Beaconsfield 347 


Royal  Arms  as  borne  from  1714  to  1801 


ENGLISH    HISTORY 


FOR 


AMERICANS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE    GEOGRAPHY    OF    BRITAIN. 

OFF  the  western  coast  of  Europe  are  two  large 
islands.  One  of  these  is  a  little  larger  than 
are  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  united ;  the 
other  is  almost  as  large  as  the  State  of  Indiana,  size  of 
Two  thousand  years  ago  an  old  Greek  writer  Bdtish 
called  them  "  the  two  Britannic  islands  of  Albion  ^^'^^• 
and  lerne."  To-day  we  call  them  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

Great  Britain  is  the  larger  of  the  two  islands.  In 
studying  its  geography  to  find  out  why  it  has  played 
so  great  a  part  in  history,  the  first  thing  to  be  impor- 
noticed  is  the  fact  that  it  is  a  large  island  lying  i*f"[!fia°nd 
off  the  shore  of  the  highly  civilized  countries  situation. 
of  Western  Europe.  Its  people  could  not  fail  to  be 
greatly  influenced  by  the  ideas  of  the  people  of  the 
neighboring  continent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  "  silver 
streak  "  of  stormy  water,  separating  the  island  from  the 
continent,  protected  the  islanders  from  attack  except 
at  great  intervals  of  time. 


2  THE   GEOGRAPHY   OF  BRITAIN. 

The   next  thing  to    be   noticed   in   this   study  is  the 

broken  coast-Hne  of  Great  Britain.     The  people  Hving 

on  the   seashore   could   scarcely  help  being    seafarers : 

they  have  become  the  greatest  seafarers  of  the 

line  of     time.    Three  famous  harbors  are  found  along-  this 

Britain.  ,      ,  ,       ,  ^      ,     ^ 

coast,  and  they  are  now  three  out  of  the  four 
greatest  ports  to  be  found  in  the  world ;  these  are 
London,  Liverpool,  and  Glasgow. 

About  two-thirds  way  from  the  southern  end  of 
the  island  is  a  lange  of  barren  hills;  these  are  called  the 
Lines  of  Chcviot  Hills.  For  centuries  they  separated  the 
from*^"  people  of  the  island  into  two  nations.  Extend- 
Scotiand.  jj^g  southward  from  these  hills  midway  of  the 
island  are  the  Pennines;  these  are  not  high,  but  they 
are  rugged  and  barren.  In  the  olden  time  it  was  very 
difficult  to  get  across  them.  Let  us  see  how  an  army 
of  Scots  invading  England  would  march  southward. 
They  might  pass  around  the  western  end  of  the  Cheviots 
and  march  southward  by  the  city  of  Carlisle  and  by 
Preston  to  Derby  —  which  is  at  the  southward  end  of  the 
Pennines  —  and  thence  onward  to  London.  The  easier 
line  of  march,  however,  was  by  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Cheviots  and  across  the  Tweed  near  Berwick.  Thence 
an  army  would  proceed  by  Newcastle-on-Tyne  to  York 
and  so  on  southward  to  London.  As  you  proceed  in 
your  study  of  this  book,  it  will  be  interesting  to  turn 
back  and  make  up  a  list  of  the  battles  which  have  been 
fought  between  the  Cheviots  and  Derby  on  the  western 
route  and  between  the  Cheviots  and  the  region  around 
York  on  the  eastern   route. 

In  the  southern  part  of  England  the  beautiful  river 
valley  of  the  Thames  stretches  nearly  across  the  island. 
At  its  first  crossing-place  from  the  sea  stands  London 


PHVSICAL  MAP 

OF 

ENGLAND. 

>     20  40  eo  80  too 

SCALE  OF  MILES. 

Elevations. 

Sea  level  to  250  C:::^  Hark  Greea 

250to  500'.--. ..  I 1  Light  Green 

500' to  1000' r 1  Yellowish  Buff. 

OverlOOO' I i  Pink 


X  OUT  \Jt  S  ~E  A 


Jsc 


cwg.  iurr«i.o 


LONGMANS^  GREEN  A  CO.,  NEW  YORK. 


SOUTHERN   BRITAIN.  3 

Bridge   and  the  City  of  London.      Its  headwaters   are 
in  a  range  of  low  hills  which  separate  it  from  the  Sev- 
ern valley.     This   latter  river    flows  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  of  Wales   almost   at    right   angles   to  j^^ 
the   Thames.      Its   first  crossing-place   from    the  Thames 

'^  ^  and 

sea  is  marked  by  the  City  of  Gloucester.     Higher  Severn 

villcvs 

up  the  Severn  is  Worcester,  and  still  higher  up 
IS  Shrewsbury.  The  Thames  looks  toward  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  and  flows  through  a  rich  agricultural 
district.  The  Severn  marks  the  eastern  limit  of  the 
mountainous  district  of  western  Britain.  It  was  prob- 
able that  the  people  living  in  these  two  river  valleys 
would  think  differently  on  important  matters,  and  so 
they  have  thought  in  the  great  moments  of  the  island's 
story.  They  not  only  have  disagreed  in  thinking,  but 
have  often  been  quite  willing  to  fight  for  their  con- 
victions. These  two  river  valleys,  and  especially  the 
broken  land  lying  between  them,  therefore,  have  been 
battle-grounds  since  the  very  beginning  of  history. 

The  southern  shore  of  Britain  faces  the  English  Chan- 
nel and  the  French  coast.  The  Scilly  Isles  and  Lizard 
Head  mark  its  western  entrance.  Its  eastern  and  north- 
ern end  is  the  Strait  of  Dover,  where  England  and 
France  are  only  twenty-one  miles  apart.  Between 
Dover  and  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  are  the  Goodwin 
Sands ;  and  between  this  dangerous  shoal  and  the  shore 
of  the  island  is  the  protected  anchorage  known  as  the 
Downs.  England's  great  naval  stations  are  along  this 
coast.  These  are  Plymouth  in  Devonshire,  Southamp- 
ton and  Portsmouth  protected  by  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
Chatham  on  the  Medway,  a  stream  which  flows  into  the 
Thames  below  London. 

The  northern  part  of  England,  the  southern  part  of 


4  THE  GEOGRAPHY   OF  BRITAIN. 

Scotland  and  Wales,  are  richer  In  coal,  iron,  and  tin 
than  any  other  bit  of  the  earth's  surface  of  the  same 
size.  Nowadays  these  districts  are  the  sites  of  great 
Modern  manufacturing  towns  and  the  homes  of  enor- 
condl-"^  mous  masses  of  working  people.  But  all  this 
tions.  activity  has  grown  up  since  1700.  Before  that 
time  the  southern  portion  of  England  was  the  richest 
section  of  the  island  and  the  home  of  the  greater  part 
of  its  inhabitants.  It  is  time  now  for  us  to  begin  the 
study  of  the  history  of  man  in  this  interesting  country. 


VIEW   OF  PART    OF  THE   ROMAN  WALL. 


QUESTIONS.  5 

OUTLINE. 

Size  of  Great  Britain.  Fortunate  situation  of  this  island  :  (i)  'ts 
nearness  to  Europe;  (2)  its  separateness  from  Europe.  Division 
of  the  island  by  the  Cheviots.  Lines  of  march  from  Scotland. 
The  Thames  and  the  Severn  valleys.  Differences  in  industry  in 
early  days  and  at  the  present  time. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Say  what  you  can  about  the  size  of  the  British  islands. 

2.  Why  are  the  Cheviots  important  in  Britain's  history?  the 
Pennines  ?  the  country  between  the  Thames  and  the  Severn  ? 

3.  How  do  you  account  for  the  decreased  importance  of  south- 
ern England  nowadays? 

TOPICS. 

Whenever  the  class  comes  to  a  conquest  or  a  campaign  give  out 
topics  on  geography:  e.g.  (a)  The  western  limits  of  Egbert's 
kingdom;  (b)  the  lines  of  march  of  Scottish  armies  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  etc. 


EARLY  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER   II. 

EARLY    BRITAIN. 

THE  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Great 
Britain,  or  Albion,  lived  long  before  the  period  of 
written  history.  But  men  who  have  studied  the  matter 
Bar-  carefully  have  found  out  a  good  deal  about  them, 
rows.  Scattered  here  and  there  over  the  land  are  small 
hills  commonly  called  barrows.  These  are  something 
like  the  "  mounds  "  which  have  been  found  in  parts  of 
the  United  States.  They  were  made  by  human  hands. 
Buried  in  them  have  been  found  bones  of  men  and  ani- 
mals. Tools  of  stone  and  bronze  have  also  been  found 
in  them. 

These  have  been  carefully  measured  and  examined. 
^  ,        It  is  found  that  they  belonged   to  two  different 

Early  •'  ^ 

British  raccs,  who  can  only  be  known  apart  as  being  the 
people  with  long,  narrow  heads,  and  those  with 

short,  round   heads.     The  long-headed   people  appear 

to  have  been  the  older  race,  and  the  more  ignorant. 
They  were  a  good  deal  like  the  Eskimo,  or  Esqui- 

headed  maux,  of  the  present  day.  They  lived  in  caves, 
and  in  villages  built  over  shallow  water.     They 

used  stone  tools,   and   ate  the   flesh   of  wild  beasts; 


Richbotvugh) 

<.  (Itovtr) 


ney^Marth) 


-0.    rN5.    BUffAW. 


LONGMANS,   GREEN  A  CO.,    NEW   YORK 


THE  GAELS.  7 

but  they  had  tame  animals  also,  for  the  bones  of  the 
ox,  the  horse,  and  even  the  goose,  have  been  found  in 
the  graves.  It  is  not  known  who  these  long-headed 
people  were ;  but  they  have  been  thought  to  belong  to 
a  race  called  Iberian,  or  perhaps  Ivernian,  who  were 
the  early  occupants  of  the  peninsula  of  Spain,  and 
also  of  Ireland,   or  lerne. 

The   people  with  the  round   heads  came  at  a  later 
day,  although  long  before  the  time  of  written  history. 
They  were  larger,  stronger,  and  less  barbarous    ^ 
than  the  race  just  described.     This  is  shown  by   headed 
the  fact  that  they  used  bronze  tools;  for  bronze 
is  a  mixture  of  copper  and  tin,  and  it  cannot  be  made 
without  some   skill.     They  made  earthen    pots  also, 
wove  a  rough  kind  of  cloth,   and  built  their  villages 
over  deeper  waters  than  the  others.     They  were  per- 
haps  of   the    Finnish   race,   which   still   occupies  the 
northernmost  part  of   Europe,   although  some  regard 
them  as  Celts,   or  Kelts. 

At  any  rate,  we  know  that  men  of  Celtic,  or  Keltic, 
blood  lived  in  Britain  at  the  beginning  of  written  his- 
tory, and  they  are  the  first  British  men  of  whom  The 
we  know  much.  Men  of  the  same  race  still  live  ^*^^^* 
in  France,  especially  in  Brittany,  in  Spain,  and  in 
Northern  Italy.  Of  those  who  came  to  Britain,  the 
tribes  of  whom  we  know  most  were  the  Goidels,  or 
Gaels,  and  the  Brythons,  or  Britons.  The  Goidels  came 
first,  and  then  passed  over  into  Ireland,  where  the 
western  Irish  are  probably  their  descendants.  Some 
of  them  passed  over  into  Scotland,  where  the  Scottish 
Highlanders  are  supposed  to  be  sprung  from  them, 
and  still  speak  a  language  called  Gaelic.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Brythons  came  to  the  southern  part  of 


8  EARLY  BRITAIN. 

Great  Britain,  and  the  Welsh  are  their  particular  de- 
scendants. Their  old  neighbors  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  gave  them  this  name  of  Brythons,  meaning 
either  clothed  men  or  painted  men;  but  they  called 
themselves  Cymry,  and  their  descendants,  the  Welsh, 
call  themselves  by  that  name  to  this  day. 

We  know  more  about  these  early  Britons  than  about 
any  of  the  other  early  races,  because  the  Romans, 
The  who  afterwards  conquered  them,  have  told  us  a 
Britons,  gj-g^^  ^qq^i  about  them  in  their  books.  They 
lived  in  huts  shaped  like  beehives,  made  of  planks, 
and  covered  with  basket-work  and  mud.  The  only 
ornaments  of  these  huts  were  the  heads  of  the 

Their 

mode  of   owucr's  cnemics;  and  this  shows  what  a  savage 

life, 

race  they  were.  The  heads  that  were  thought 
most  valuable  were  kept  in  boxes,  and  were  brought 
forth  only  on  great  occasions.  In  this  they  were  no 
better  than  the  wild  tribes  called  head-hunters,  who 
are  still  to  be  found  in  the  island  of  Borneo.  The 
Britons  were  a  tall  and  well-formed  race.  They  were 
dressed  in  skins  and  in  woven  cloth,  this  last  being 
dyed  in  gaudy  colors.  The  men  allowed  their  mous- 
taches to  grow  so  long  that  they  strained  what  they 
drank  through  them  as  through  a  sieve.  They  were 
good  farmers,  and  raised  large  crops  of  grain.  Cattle 
and  sheep  abounded  among  them,  and  they  had  little 
horses,  or  ponies,  which,  when  too  old  to  labor,  were 
killed  and  eaten  like  other  animals.  The  Britons 
were  brave,  and  fought  chiefly  from  chariots  drawn  by 
three  horses.  When  going  to  war,  a  soldier  colored 
his  hair  bright  red,  and  painted  streaks  of  blue  and 
green  on  his  face  and  legs,  like  the  American  Indian. 
When  the  Romans  afterwards  conquered  Britain,  the 


STONEHENGE.  9 

race  which  they  overcame  was  really  not  much  more 
civilized  than  the  Mandans  or  Choctaws  or  Apaches 
of  America. 

The  religion  of  these  early  Britons  was  called  Druid- 
ism,  and  their  priests  were  called  Druids.     They  wor- 


VIEW   OF   STONEHENGE.      (FROM    A    niOTOGRAPH.) 


shipped  several  deities,  and  offered  human  sacrifices  to 
them.     They  held  oak  groves  sacred, and  particu- 
larly the  mistletoe  that  hung  from  the  boughs.       '^'*'"' 
There  are  in  England  several  great  buildings,  or  struc- 
tures of  stone  resembling  buildings,  which  are  stone- 
supposed  to  have  been  built  in  the  time  of  the  ''^"s^- 
Druids,  though  no  one  can  fix  the  date.     As  the  trav- 
eller goes  out  from  the  city  of  Salisbury  over  a  bare 
undulating  plain,  like  one  of  the  rolling  prairies  of  the 


lO  EARLY  BRITAIN. 

West,  he  sees  at  a  distance  a  vast  gray  structure  made 
of  huge  stones  now  fallen  apart.  This  is  called  Stone- 
henge.  The  largest  upright  stones  are  nearly  thirty 
feet  long,  and  hold  up  cross-pieces  that  are  sixteen  feet 
long  and  weigh  eleven  tons.  How  these  great  stones 
were  brought  or  shaped  and  raised  to  ^uch  a  height  with 
the  imperfect  tools  and  machinery  of  a  barbarous  age, 
is  very  puzzling;  but  there  is  no  way  of  learning  exactly 
when  Stonehenge  was  built,  or  another  structure  of 
the  same  kind  at  Abury.  But  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  people  who  built  them  were  ancestors 
of  our  own ;  for  the  island  of  Albion,  or  Great  Britain, 
has  been  conquered  so  many  times  that  there  is  a  great 
mixture  of  race  in  all  English-speaking  people.  Ibe- 
rian and  Finn,  Gael  and  Briton,  all  mingle  their  blood 
in  our  veins;  and  so  do  other  races  yet  to  be  men- 
tioned, such  as  Angle  and  Saxon,  Dane  and  Nor- 
man. But  it  is  a  curious  thing  that  our  institutions 
and  laws  are  mainly  based  on  those  of  the  Angles  and 
Saxons. 

At  a  time  when  Britain  was  in  an  almost  barbarous 
condition,  the  southern  portions  of  Europe  were  much 
£j^riy  more  civilized,  and  we  know  something  of  the 
visitors,  early  state  of  Britain  through  the  writings  and 
traditions  of  these  more  advanced  races.  For  instance, 
an  early  Greek  explorer  named  Pytheas  is  supposed  to 
have  visited  the  island,  and  the  Phoenicians  at  Carth- 
age used  tin  that  probably  came  from  British  mines, 
and  they  knew  something  about  the  Britons.  Yet  the 
route  of  Pytheas  is  not  easy  to  make  out,  and  the 
Phoenicians  may,  after  all,  have  obtained  their  tin  and 
their  information  from  Gaul  or  Spain.  But  as  to  the 
Roman  knowledge  of  Britain,  we  are  on  surer  ground. 


A.D.  84]  THE   ROMAN   CONQUEST.  II 

We  know  that,  fifty-five  years  before  the  birth  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  great  Roman  general,  Julius  Caesar, 
crossed  over  to  Britain,  he  being  then  governor  Britain, 
of  Gaul.  The  next  year  he  came  again,  and  '  '^^  * 
marched  over  part  of  the  southeastern  portion  of  the 
island.  He  did  not  stay  long;  but  his  coming  was  of 
great  importance,  for  he  made  the  island  known  to  the 
Romans,  who  were  then  the  great  conquering  race  of 
Europe.  A  century  later  these  mighty  conquerors 
came  again  and  subdued  Britain  itself,  making  it  a 
province  of  the  Roman  Empire.  This  took  place 
under  the  Emperor  Claudius  (43  a.  d.).  The  Ionian 
Britons  were  brave  and  warlike,  but  they  were  J^^^^ 
no  match  for  the  disciplined  Roman  soldiers.  (^•^•43)- 
The  chief  who  made  the  bravest  resistance  was  Caradoc, 
or  Caractacus.  He  was  at  length  captured  and  sent 
to  Rome,  where  the  emperor  was  so  pleased  with  his 
frank  and  ojDcn  manner  that  he  set  him  free.  But  the 
Romans  in  Britain  were  not  so  kind  as  was  this  emperor. 
They  oppressed  the  Britons  terribly,  and  even  tortured 
them  to  obtain  money  from  them.  At  last  this  could 
be  borne  no  longer,  and  there  was  a  rebellion  under  a 
brave  chief  named  Boadicea,  a  woman.  The  Britons 
took  and  plundered  the  Roman  town  of  Londinium 
(London);  but  they  were  defeated  at  last,  and  Boadicea 
is  said  to  have  taken  her  own  life  in  her  despair. 

After  this  the  Romans  went  on  from  one  conquest 
to  another.  In  the  time  of  the  Governor  Agricola 
(a.  D.  78-84),  all  Britain,  as  far  north  as  the  Clyde  Roman 
and  the  Firth  of  Forth,  was  in  their  hands.  At  ^*"'' 
that  point  the  island  is  very  narrow,  and  Agricola 
caused  forts  to  be  built  across  it,  to  aid  in  keeping 
back  the  wild  Highland  tribes  called  Scots  and  Picts, 


12  EARLY  BRITAIN.  [84. 

who    made   constant   raids    upon   the    country.      Fifty 
years   later   these   bold   mountaineers  pressed   the   Ro 
mans    so    hard    that   the    Emperor    Hadrian    caused    a 
solid    wall   to    be    built,   much    farther  south,   between 
the  Tyne  and  Solway  Firth.     Later  still,  the  Emperor 


PART   OF   THE   ROMAN    WALL   AT    LEICESTER. 

Severus. rebuilt  this  wall,  and  a  part  of  it  is  still  stand- 
ing, although  much  has  been  taken  away  to  mend  the 
roads.  While  the  Scots  and  Picts  thus  troubled  the 
Romans  by  land,  the  sea-fighters,  or  vikings,  also  at- 
tacked them  by  water;  and  to  meet  these  the  Romans 
built  great  roads,  so  that  soldiers  could  be  hurried  from 
one  part  of  the  island  to  another.  Some  of  these 
roads  can  still  be  traced;  and  all  over  England  there 
yet  remain  ruined  walls  and  fragments  of  tiled  floors 
to  show  where  the  towns  and  camps  of  the  Roman  con- 
querors of  Britain  were  built. 

The  Romans,  having  become  Christian,   introduced 
Christianity  into  Britain,  and  in  this  way  the  Britons 


410.]  ROMAN   ARMY  WITHDRAWN.  1 3 

became  Christians.     But  soon   the   Roman   power  de 
clined.     In  A.D.   410,   Rome  was  taken   by  the  West 
Goths  under  their  chief,  Alaric,  and  in  the  same    „ 

Koman 

year  the   Roman   legions   were  withdrawn   from    army 
Britain.       This    strong     arm     being    gone,    the    drawn 
Britons    had  to    defend    themselves    from    Scots  * 

and  Picts  and  other  invaders,  —  a  task  in   which  they 
succeeded  very  ill. 


OUTLINE. 

Earliest  inhabitants  of  Britain:  (i)  the  long-heads  of  the  Stone 
Age  ;  (2)  the  short-heads  of  the  Bronze  Age ;  (3)  the  Gaels ;  (4) 
the  Britons.  The  Roman  Occupation  of  Britain:  (i)  Caesar  in 
Britain;  (2)  resistance  of  Britons  led  by  Caradoc  and  Boadicea ; 
(3)  Roman  walls  and  roads ;  (4)  the  Romans  become  Christians; 
(5)  end  of  the  Roman  period. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  can  you  say  about  the  people  of  the  Stone  Age  ?  of 
the  Bronze  Age  ? 

2.  De.scribe  the  houses  and  life  of  the  Britons.  Why  were  they 
called  Britons  ?  who  are  their  descendants  ? 

3.  Why  did  the  Romans  build  walls  and  roads? 

4.  How  did  the  Romans  become  Christians  ? 

TOPICS. 

Caesar's  description  of  the  Britons  in  his  Commentaries  (any 
edition)  Book  V.  Chs.  XII.-XIV. 


14  HOW   BRITAIN  BECAME   ENGLAND.  [449. 


CHAPTER   III. 

HOW    BRITAIN    BECAME    ENGLAND. 
A.  D.  449-827. 

BY  the  seaside,  in  winter,  we  may  sometimes  see 
a  floating  log  or  plank  on  which  a  little  flock  of 
sea-fowl  has  perched.  Then  comes  another  flock,  and 
another,  all  ready  to  alight,  and  each  flock  must  either 
make  room  for  the  next,  or  be  driven  away.  The  early 
history  of  the  island  of  Britain  is  very  much  like  this. 
One  flock  of  invaders  after  another  settled  upon  it, 
each  having  a  name  of  its  own,  but  all  belonging  in 
general  to  the  great  Germanic,  or  Teutonic,  race,  which 
spread  all  over  northern  Europe.  The  modern  Ger- 
mans, Dutch,  and  Danes  all  belong  to  this  race,  and 
so  did  the  successive  flocks  of  invaders  who  came  to 
Britain. 

There  were  the  Jutes,  for  instance,  from  whom  the 
peninsula  of  Jutland  is  still  named.  They  landed 
Coming  in  449  on  the  coast  to  the  south  of  the  Thames, 
jutes^  ^"d  soon  overran  all  that  part  of  the  island. 
(449)-  Jt  used  to  be  said  that  they  were  led  by  two 
brothers,  named  Hengist  and  Horsa,  whom  a  British 
chief,  named  Vortigern,  had  asked  to  help  him  against 
his  enemies.  But  it  is  now  thought  that  this  whole 
story  may  be  false,  and  that  Hengist  and  Horsa  mean 
only  horse  and  mare.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  Jutes 
themselves  came,  and  brought  with  them  their  families, 


520.]  THE   SAXONS.  I5 

slaves,  and  cattle.  The  Romans  had  called  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Britain  Cantium,  and  the  Jutes  changed 
the  name  to  Kent,  —  a  name  it  still  bears.  They 
called  themselves  Kentsmen,  and  named  their  chief 
town  Kentsmen 's  borough,  or  Canterbury,  as  it  is 
now  spelled.  This  is  interesting  to  Americans,  be- 
cause a  large  part  of  those  who  first  settled  this  con- 
tinent came  from  this  county  of  Kent,  and  kept  up  its 
way  of  speaking  and  its  institutions. 

The  next  flock  of  invaders,  also  belonging  to  the 
great  Teutonic  race,  were  of  the  Saxon  tribe,  and  set- 
tled upon  the  land  south  and  west  of  Kent,  j^e 
calling  this  region  Sussex,  or  the  land  of  the  Saxons. 
South  Saxons,  —  a  name  it  holds  to  this  day.  Then 
another  band  of  Saxons  settled  to  the  west  of  Sussex, 
and  called  that  region  Wessex.  They  are  said  to  have 
fought  many  battles  with  the  British  king  Arthur, 
about  whom  there  are  so  many  legends  and  poems,  — 
he  that  founded  the  Round  Table  of  famous  knights, 
who  went  in  search  of  the  Holy  Grail.  The  poet 
Tennyson,  in  our  own  time,  has  written  much  about 
King  Arthur,  but  it  is  now  believed  that  he  existed 
only  in  poetry,  as  none  of  the  early  historical  writers 
even  mention  his  name.  But  the  leader  of  these 
Saxons  of  Wessex  was  a  real  person,  named  Cedric, 
who  was  the  ancestor  of  most  of  the  later  sovereigns 
of  England,  incfuding  the  present  king.  Cedric's 
settlement  of  Wessex  was  the  most  important  Saxon 
colony.  Other  Saxons  settled  in  the  eastern  part  of 
England,  calling  their  part  of  the  country  Essex,  while 
others  settled  between  these  tribes  and  called  that 
region  Middlesex.  These  two  names  yet  belong  to 
English  counties,  though  the  name  of  Wessex  is  lost. 


1 6  HOW   BRITAIN   BECAME   ENGLAND.  [600. 

Then  other  Teutonic  Invaders  settled  In  the  central 
and  northern  parts  of  Britain.  These  were  called 
The  Angles,  or  English,  so  that  we  now  see  whence 
English,  came  the  words  **  English  "  and  "  Anglo-Saxon." 
They  settled  north  of  Essex,  and  slowly  got  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Wales.  The  old  English  word  for  border  Is 
''march  ;  "  so  these  border  English  were  called  "  march- 
men,"  and  their  country  was  called  "Mercia. "  Other 
Angles  also  settled  north  of  the  river  Humber,  and 
were  finally  united  in  a  large  kingdom,  called  North- 
umbria.  They  gradually  spread  yet  farther  north,  and 
founded  a  city  named  Edwin' s-borough,  or  Edinburgh, 
after  a  King  Edwin  of  Northumbria,  who  lived  in  the 
seventh  century.  Thus  the  Angles,  or  English,  gradu- 
ally got  possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the  island, 
and  it  came  to  be  called  Angleland,  or  England. 
.  What  became  of  the  early  British  tribes  we  do  not 
know,  although  it  is  very  likely  that  the  present  in- 
Treat-  habitants  of  Wales  and  Cornwall  are  mainly  de- 
"he"*^  scended  from  them.  Some  writers,  too,  think 
Britons.  ^]^^|.  ^^iQ  prcscncc  of  SO  many  dark-haired  Eng- 
lishmen shows  that  the  slaughter  of  the  Britons  was 
not  so  complete  as  many  historians  have  thought.  For 
the  English,  Danes,  and  Normans  belonged  to  the 
Teutonic  race,  and  had  light  hair,  while  we  know  that 
the  early  Britons  had  dark  hair.  At  any  rate,  there 
are  hardly  any  British  words  in  our  present  language, 
but  there  are  many  Latin  words,  and  some  of  these 
may  have  come  from  the  Britons,  who  probably  spoke 
a  dialect  of  Latin  after  the  Romans  conquered  them. 
And  our  customs,  like  our  language,  came  mainly 
from  the  Teutonic  tribes,  who,  one  after  another,  pos- 
sessed England,  and  whom  we  must  now  call  English. 


827.1  ENGLISH   INSTITUTIONS.  1 7 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  these  old  tribes,  from 
whom  most  of  us  are  descended,  were  not  only  almost 
savages,  but  they  were  pagans;  that  is,  wor-  . 
shippers  of  many  gods.  What  little  of  Chris-  of  the 
tianity  had  been  planted  in  the  island  by  the  "^'^ 
Romans  had  disappeared,  and  the  new  tenants  of  Eng- 
land worshipped  various  gods,  the  chief  of  whom  was 
Wodin,  or  Odin.  Next  to  him  was  Thor,  or  Thunder. 
To  this  god  the  horse  was  sacred,  and  the  English 
held  feasts  of  horseflesh  in  his  honor.  After  they 
had  been  converted  to  Christianity  they  gave  up  these 
feasts  altogether;  and  this  change  of  habits  has  been 
thought  to  be  the  reason  why  we  do  not  eat  horseflesh, 
as  is  done  by  some  races.  To  this  day  we  keep  the 
names  of  Wodin  and  Thor  in  our  Wednesday  and  Thurs- 
day; and  this  is  why  our  Puritan  ancestors  in  England 
and  America  refused  to  use  these  names,  which  they 
thought  heathen,  and  why  they  preferred  to  name  the 
days  of  the  week  by  simple  numbers,  —  First  Day, 
Second  Day,  and  so  on, —  as  the  Quakers,  or  Friends, 
now  do.  But  as  all  these  early  English  kings  claimed 
to  be  descended  from  Wodin,  they  thought  it  very 
proper  to  call  one  day  in  the  week  by  his  name. 

All  these  English  tribes  kept  up  the  customs  of  their 
Teutonic  forefathers ;  and  it  is  thus  that  those  customs 
have  been  handed  down  to  Americans.     To  be-  _    ,. , 

English 

gin  with,  each  tribe,  as  it  settled  down  on  its  institu- 
part  of  the  conquered  territory,  divided  the  land 
fit  for  plowing  among  its  members  according  to  the  old 
Teutonic  method,  —  a  portion  to  each  family.  Sev- 
eral families  living  near  together  formed  a  township, 
and  the  affairs  of  the  township  were  arranged  at  a 
meeting  of  the   male   freeholders,   or   freemen,   of  the 

2 


1 8  HOW   BRITAIN   BECAME   ENGLAND.  [600. 

township.  After  Christianity  was  introduced,  this 
"  town-moot,"  or  "  town-meeting,"  took  charge  of  the 
The  religious  affairs  too,  and  did  this  under  the  name 
township.  Q^  ((  parish."  Town  meetings  and  parish  meet- 
ings are  still  held  in  England  and  in  New  England. 
This  is  interesting  because  it  shows  the  strength  of 
these  early  English  customs. 

Several  townships,  enough  to  furnish  a  hundred  war- 
riors, formed  what  was  later  called  ''  The  Hundred." 
The  The  hundred  had  its  own  meeting,  at  which  the 
hundred.  ^Q^y^  priest  and  reeve,  or  chief  officer,  with  four 
more  men  from  each  township,  were  present.  The 
name  **  Hundred "  is  still  preserved  in  some  States 
of  the  American  Union.  Then,  as  time  went  on,  and 
there  came  to  be  but  one  king  in  all  England,  the 
The  little  kingdoms  of  former  days  became  shires,  or 
county,  counties.  The  affairs  of  a  county  were  con- 
ducted at  an  assembly  over  which  an  officer  called  the 
alderman  presided. 

The  land  was  not  all  divided  among  separate  owners. 
According  to  some  writers  a  part  of  it  was  always 
_   ,    ,  reserved,  to  be  sfiven  by  the  lords  at  some  future 

Theland.    .  '  ,  .  ,    .  ,        , 

time  to  those  who  deserved  it,  or  to  be  let  to 
those  who  had  no  right  to  a  portion  of  free  land,  and 
who  had  to  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  some 
strong  man.  According  to  other  writers,  most  of  the 
land  was  owned  by  the  community  in  common.  More- 
over, many  of  the  people  were  thralls,  or  slaves,  some  of 
these  having  sold  themselves  into  slavery  because  they 
were  poor,  or  having  been  fined  for  some  offence,  and 
having,  been  unable  to  pay  the  fine.  All  who  have  read 
Scott's  novel  of  "  Ivanhoe  "  will  remember  Gurth  and 
Wamba,   who  were  slaves,   and  actually  wore  collars 


§27]  CONVERSION  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  I9 

around  their  necks;  although  Scott  must  not  be  too 
closely  followed,  as  it  is  said  that  there  is  some  his- 
torical error  in  almost  every  page  of  "Ivanhoe. " 

Besides  these  various  classes  of  freemen,  dependants, 
and  slaves,  there  were  the  fighting  men,  or  thanes,  who 
followed  the  fortunes  of  their  chief,  or  king,  and   The 
were  often  rewarded  by  a  gift  of  land  or  by  a   **'^"^5- 
title  of  nobility.      Where  these  thanes,  or  nobles,  were 
powerful,  the  poorer  and  weaker  were  glad  to  come 
under  their  authority  and  have  their  protection;  and 
thus    the    simple    early   Teutonic    institutions    went 
through  a  change,   and  became  more   like  what  was 
called   "feudalism"    in    the    rest    of    Europe.      This 
change  was  seen,  for   instance,   in  the  growth   ^. 
of  the  Witenagemot,   or  meeting  of  the  Wise   meeting 
Men  (Witan).     This  was  a  body  of  great  power,    wise 
and  took  in  some  degree  the  place  of  a  legis- 
lature or  congress.      It  elected  the  king,  sometimes 
passing  over  the  older  heir,  and  choosing  some  other 
member  of  the  ruling  family.     It  also  appointed  the 
officers  of  state,   and  decided  questions  of  peace  and 
war.     At  first  the  freemen  had  the  right  to  attend  its 
meetings;  but  the  attendance  was  gradually  composed 
of  the  leading  officials  and  nobles. 

For  many  years  the  English  still  remained  pagan, 
worshipping  the  old  Saxon  gods ;  but  just  before  the  end 
of  the  sixth  century  Augustine,  a  monk,  visited  conver- 
England.  Fortunately  for  him,  the  king  of  chds° 
Kent,  named  Ethelbert,  had  married  a  Chris-  *'^"*'y- 
tian  wife,  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Franks,  so 
Augustine  was  allowed  to  land.  Between  his  wife's 
persuasions  and  those  of  this  monk,  Ethelbert  be- 
came a   Christian,  and    allowed    Augustine    to    live   at 


20  HOW   BRITAIN   BECAME   ENGLAND.  [827. 

Canterbury,  where  the  heaxl  of  the  Church  of  England 
still  has  a  cathedral,  his  title  being  that  of  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  In  time  all  the  English  kings 
and  their  people  became  Christian.  Before  long  the 
English  Church  became  a  portion  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  to  which  the  leading  nations  of  western 
Europe  also  belonged. 

During  all  this  time  no  English  king  succeeded  in 
really  uniting  all  England,  though  by  827  Egbert  of 
_    ,    ,  Wessex   was   recos^nized   by  all  Englishmen  liv- 

England  ^  ^  ^ 

united     ing;  south  of  Edinburgh  and  the  Firth  of  Forth 
as  their  ruler,  or  '*  over-lord." 


OUTLINE. 

The  first  invasion  of  England  by  Germans:  (i)  Jutes;  (2) 
Saxons;  (3)  English.  Their  settlements,  religion,  and  institutions. 
Landing  of  St.  Augustine.  He  converts  the  English  to  Chris- 
tianity.    Union  of  all  England  under  Egbert  (827). 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  were  the  first  German  settlers  of  Kent.?  Who  con- 
verted them  to  Christianity,  and  where  was  his  church  ? 

2.  Who  was  Cedric,  the  West  Saxon  ?  Give  the  names  of  some 
of  his  descendants. 

3.  Where  did  the  English  settle  ?  Tell  all  you  know  about 
Edwin  and  Egbert. 

4.  Who  was  Wodin  ?  how  do  we  remember  him  ? 

5.  Describe  the  town,  the  hundred,  the  county,  the  Wise  Men. 

TOPICS. 

1.  The  Story  of  King  Arthur.  Sidney  Lanier's  T/ie  Boy's  King 
Arthur. 

2.  The  conversion  of  the  English.  Green's  Short  History  of 
the  English  People,  Ch.  I.  §  iii. 


827.]  THE  VIKINGS.  21 


CHAPTER   IV. 

ALFRED    AND    CANUTE. 
827-1042. 

IN  those  days  there  were  certain  sea-rovers,  called 
vikings,  who  used  to  land  upon  the  coasts  of  England 
and  France,  and  often  took  possession  of  the  -jhe 
land  and  held  it.  The  word  "  vikings  "  does  ^'kings. 
not  mean  that  they  were  kings,  but  that  they  dwelt  on 
a  vik,  or  bay.  They  came  in  long  boats  with  high 
prows,  often  bearing  the  head  of  a  dragon  or  some  other 
animal.  There  were  sometimes  fifty  rowers,  whose 
shields  were  hung  over  the  sides  of  the  boat;  and  when 
the  boat  was  upset  in  a  sea-fight,  the  men  would  escape 
their  enemies  by  swimming,  with  their  heads  under 
their  floating  shields.  These  sea-rovers  were  called 
Northmen,  or  Norsemen,  so  that  when  they  took  pos- 
session of  a  part  of  the  coast  of  France  it  was  named 
Normandy,  and  has  held  that  name  ever  since.  Some 
of  these  same  Northmen  afterwards  made  their  way  to 
Iceland,  and  thence,  it  is  believed,  to  America.  But 
the  sea-rovers  who  invaded  England  were  from  Den- 
mark, and  came  from  the  same  part  of  Europe  as  the 
Jutes,  who  had  landed  in  England  before.  They  spoke 
a  Germanic  dialect,  probably  not  differing  much  from 
that  spoken  in  England  at  the  time. 

The  Danish  sea-rovers  landed  first  in  Ireland,  where 
the  people  had  been  converted  to  Christianity  before 


22  THE  NORTHMEN   IN  ENGLAND.  [878. 

the  EngHsh,  but  were  stiH  far  from  being  civilized. 
The  native  tribes  retreated  before  the  warHke  Danes 
The  into  the  forests  and  wilds  of  the  interior.  Then 
^TSng  ^^^  Danes  crossed  to  England,  and  overran 
Alfred.  Northumbria  and  Mercia;  but  when  they  came 
to  Wessex  they  met  with  some  resistance  from  young 
king  Alfred,  Egbert's  grandson.  But  he  had  to  re- 
treat to  the  forest,  and  is  said  to  have  taken  refuge 
with  a  cowherd,  whose  wife  did  not  know  he  was  a 
king,  and  set  him  to  tending  the  cakes  that  she  was 
baking  before  the  fire.  Coming  in,  she  found  that 
they  were  burning;  and  she  said  to  him,  according  to 
an  old  ballad:  — 

■^  There,  don't  you  see  the  cakes  on  fire  ? 
Then  wherefore  turn  them  not  ? 
You  're  glad  enough  to  eat  them 
When  they  are  piping  hot." 

At  last  he  gathered  men  enough  about  him  to  leave 
his  retreat  and  attack  the  Danes.  They  were  taken 
Treaty  wholly  by  surprisc,  and  he  drove  them  out  of  his 
more^  '  kingdom  of  Wessex;  but  he  could  not  drive 
(878).  them  out  of  England,  and  he  had  to  let  them 
remain,  on  condition  of  acknowledging  him  as  their 
**  over-lord."  This  was  done  by  the  Treaty  of  Wed- 
more.  The  Danes  ruled  over  the  northern  part  of 
England ;  but  we  cannot  trace  many  of  our  institutions 
to  them,  although  the  names  of  many  English  towns 
are  Danish,  as  those  of  Whitby  and  Derby. 

Although  Alfred  could  not  get  rid  of  the  Danes,  he 
was  the  best  and  greatest  of  these  early  English  chiefs, 
Alfred's  or  kings.  He  brought  together  the  laws  and 
ment.  customs  of  the  nation  into  one  set  of  rules.  He 
encouraged  learning  by  translating  books   from   other 


ENGLAND 

Atlrr  the  trrnty  of  >Vi>(liuoro 

878. 


SCALE  OF  ENGLI6H  MILES. 

KnglUh  T»rritorjr  ihuwD  tn  Ptnk 
llernick  Danish  aod  Xorae  Territory  ibown  In  Vellow 

LihDiSFABN  Celtic  Territorj  shown  In  Green 

Bwnborough  jbe  n»m«  of  the  flye  borouchf 

are  underlined  tbuc . .  Lincoln 


LONGMANS,  GREEN  A  CO.,  NEW  YORK. 


988.]  CANUTE.  23 

languages  into  English,  and  above  all  he  built  a  navy, 
and  brought  England  more  into  connection  with  the 
outer  world.  Under  his  son,  Edward  the  Elder,  and 
his  successors,  the  work  of  Alfred  was  completed;  so 
that,  by  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  the  Danes 
were  conquered,  and  even  the  Scots  and  Welsh  acknowl- 
edged the  authority  of  the  English  king. 

Edward  died  in  925,  and  the  next  fifty  years  were 
years  of  comparative  peace  and  quiet.  The  ablest 
man  of  the  period  was  Dunstan,  a  monk,  after-  saint 
wards  known  as  Saint  Dunstan,  who  became  ^""^^"• 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Under  his  wise  guidance 
the  Danes  put  away  their  wild  habits,  and  became  like 
Englishmen,  and  the  Scottish  king  became  a  subject 
of  the  king  of  England,  taking  some  of  the  northern 
part  of  England  for  his  own,  and  having  the  old  Eng- 
lish town  of  Edinburgh  for  his  seat  of  government. 
Dunstan  died  in  988.  Even  before  his  death  another 
horde  of  Danes  came,  this  time^  determined  to  conquer 
England  and  rule  it  themselves.  The  English  king, 
Ethelred  "the  Unready,"  or  "Without  Counsel,"  fool- 
ishly gave  the  Danes  money  to  go  away.  Of  course 
they  came  back  the  next  year  in  still  greater  numbers. 
Their  leader  was  their  king,  Swend,  or  Swegen,  Fork 
beard,  who  became  king  of  England ;  and  when  ^^^^^^  ^y^^ 
he  died,  his  son  Cnut,  or  Canute,  was  kin sf  after  P^"^, 
him,  although  Edmund  Ironside,  the  brave  son  England, 
of  Ethelred  the  Unready,  divided  England  with  Cnut 
for  a  time. 

Canute  was  a  man  of  much  force  and  energy.  He 
succeeded  to  all  Ethelred's  possessions,  and  at  last 
even  married  his  widow ;  so  that  he  no  longer  seemed 
a  stranger   to  the  people.     He  was  not   only  king  of 


24 


THE  NORTHMEN   IN   ENGLAND. 


1042.] 


THE  EARLDOMS. 


25 


r^ngland,  but  of  Denmark,  of  a  part  of  Sweden,  and 
at  last  of  Norway.  He  divided  England  into  four 
earldoms,  giving  each  to  an  earl,  of  whom  the  Theeari- 
ablcst  was  Earl  Godwin  of  Wessex.  The  best  ^^"'*- 
known  story  of  Canute  is  that  of  his  ordering  the  sea 
to  obey  him ;  and  it  is  told  by  an  old  monk  named 
Henry  of  Huntingdon.  One  day,  as  the  story  goes, 
Canute  sat  down  in  a  chair  upon  the  beach  below  high- 
water  mark,  and  bade  the  tide  stop  rising.  **  O  sea, 
I  am  thy  lord.  My  ships  sail  over  thee  whither  I  will, 
and  this  land  against  which  thou  breakest  is  mine. 
Stay  thou  thy  waves,  and  dare  not  to  wet  the  feet  of 
thy  lord  and  master."  But  the  tide  kept  on,  and  wet 
the  royal  feet  before  they  could  get  out  of  the  way; 
and  it  is  said  that  he  was  so  humbled  as  never  to  wear 
his  crown  again.  In  fact,  his  children  did  not  Canute's 
wear  it  long  either.  His  sons  died  without  ^°"^' 
children,  and  the  "  Wise  Men "  gave  the  crown  to 
Ethelred's  son,  Edward. 


AN   ENGLISH   VESSEL   (HARL.    MS.   603). 


26  THE  NORTHMEN  IN  ENGLAND. 


OUTLINE. 

Northmen  from  Denmark  come  to  England.  Alfred  of  Wessex 
cannot  drive  them  out,  but  limits  them  to  certain  districts.  Edward 
the  Elder  and  Dunstan  conquer  and  civilize  the  Danes.  Later 
Canute,  the  Dane,  becomes  king  of  all  England. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  were  the  Danes  ? 

2.  Tell  about  the  Danish  invasions  in  the  time  of  Alfred.  Of 
Ethelred. 

3.  What  different  things  did  Alfred.?  Why  is  he  called  "the 
Great".? 

TOPIC. 

Alfred  the  Great.  Green's  Short  History,  Ch.  I.  §  v.  T 
Hughes'  Life  of  Alfred.  Hughes'  ScoJiring  of  the  White  Horst 
also  relates  to  this  period. 


1042.J  HAROLD   CHOSEN   KING.  27 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    NORMAN    CONQUEST. 

1 042- 1 087. 

THE  new  king's  early  years  had  been  spent  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  he  was  more  Norman  than  English 
in  his  feelings.  He  liked  to  have  his  Norman  friends 
around  him,  and  gave  them  important  offices,  even 
making  one  of  them  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  This 
was  bitterly  opposed  by  a  large  party  of  the  English, 
headed  by  Earl  Godwin.  This  led  to  constant  quarrels, 
and  when  the  great  earl  died,  and  his*  son  Harold  suc- 
ceeded him  as  Earl  of  Wessex,  Harold  really  became 
more  powerful  than  the  king.  Then  the  king  himself 
died,  and  his  influence  became  greater  after  his  death 
than  in  his  lifetime.  Remembering  his  mild  rule,  so 
different  from  the  oppressions  that  came  later,  men 
called  him  "Edward  the  Confessor,"  or  "Saint."  He 
was  buried  in  the  great  Church  or  West  Minster, 
which  was  completed  before  his  death,  and  which  is 
now  called  by  the  same  name,  Westminster  Abbey, 
although  of  Edward's  original  building  only  the  bases 
of  a  few  columns  remain. 

Edward  the  Confessor  was  the  last  of  the  direct  de- 
scendants of   Cedric  the   Saxon ;    and    the   day       ^  ^^ 
after  his  death  the  "Wise  Men"  met  and  chose   chosen 
his  young  rival,  Harold,  to  be  king  of  England, 
Edward  himself  having  recommended    this.     But  the 


28  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST.  [1066. 

new  king  had  little  peace.  William,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, had  hoped  for  the  crown  of  England,  and 
was  furious  when  he  heard  of  the  "  Wise  Men's " 
choice;  for  he  maintained  that  Harold  had  promised 
in  the  most  solemn  way  to  help  him  to  become  king. 
Indeed,  it  seems  certain  that  Harold  had  promised  to 
do  something  William  wished,  though  probably  only 
to  marry  William's  daughter.  Then  another  Harold, 
surnamed  Hardrada,  or  "  stern  of  counsel,"  resolved  to 
invade  England,  and  did  so ;  but  his  namesake  defeated 
him  utterly,  Sept.  25,  1066.  A  few  days  later,  while 
the  English  Harold  was  celebrating  this  victory,  some 
one  entered  the  room  and  said  that  Duke  William  of 
Normandy  had  landed,  and  had  taken  up  his  position 
near  Hastings.  Harold  knew  that  the  time  for  a  deci- 
sive battle  had  come,  and  with  all  speed  gathered  his 
men,  and  marching  southward,  took  up  a  strong  posi- 
tion on  the  heights  of  Senlac,  near  Hastings,  seven  miles 
from  William's  camp. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  Normans  prepared  to 
storm  the  English  fortification  on  the  hill.  It  is  said 
Battle  of  ^^^^  William,  as  he  was  putting  on  his  hauberk, 
Senlac,  or  or  body  armor,  turned  it  the  wrong  way.  His 
(Oct.  14,  men  were  alarmed,  thinking  it  a  bad  omen;  but 
William,  with  ready  wit,  claimed  it  as  a  good 
omen,  for  that  day,  he  said,  was  to  change  a  Norman 
duke  into  an  English  king.  The  fight  was  long  and 
doubtful,  Harold's  position  being  very  difficult  of  at- 
tack. At  last  William  pretended  to  retreat.  This 
drew  a  part  of  the  English  out  of  their  stronghold; 
and  the  Normans  turned  upon  them,  defeated  them,  and 
again  attacked  the  fort.  They  fought  with  bows  and 
arrows,    and   an  arrow  pierced    Harold  to  the  brain. 


io66.]    WILLIAM'S   CLAIM  TO  THE  ENGLISH   CROWN.      29 

He  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  William  of  Normandy 
became  master  of  southern  England. 

Who  was  this  William  of  Normandy,  and  what  right 
had  he  to  claim  the  throne  of  England?  Long  before, 
while  King  Alfred  was  fighting  the  Danes  in  Yviiiiam 
Enofland,  another  northern  tribe  under  Rollo,  or  ^^^  Con 

^  '  .  _       ^  queror 

Rolf,  was  besieging  Paris  in  France;  and  the  (1066- 
French  king,  to  get  rid  of  Rolf,  gave  him  the  *°  ^ " 
city  of  Rouen,  and  some  land  along  the  sea-coast,  on 
condition  that  he  should  become  a  Christian,  and  should 
render  service  to  the  French  king  in  time  of  war. 
The  region  first  given  to  him  was  called  the  North- 
men's land;  but  as  years  went  on,  and  the  Northmen 
grew  civilized,  and  adopted  the  French  language,  they 
called  themselves  Normans,  and  their  land  Normandy. 
Now,  William,  the  Conqueror  of  England,  was  the 
descendant  and  successor  of  this  Rolf,  who  had  invaded 
France. 

As  to  his  right  to  the  throne  of  England,  William 
always  said  that  Edward  the  Confessor  had  promised 
it  to  him;  but  it  was  not  Edward's  to  promise,  Hisciaim 
and  the  "Wise  Men"  had,  at  any  rate,  chosen  English 
Harold.  William,  however,  referred  the  mat-  "°*"' 
ter  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  by  promising  to  bring 
the  English  Church  into  closer  union  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  he  won  the  Pope's  consent  to  his 
invasion.  At  Senlac  he  broke  the  strength  of  Eng- 
land;  and  though  it  took  five  years  more  to  complete 
the  conquest,  yet  the  date  of  this  battle  is  perhaps  the 
most  important  in  English  history.  To  fix  the  memory 
of  the  event,  the  Conqueror  built  an  abbey  on  the  spot 
where  Harold  fell,  and  inscribed  in  it  the  names  of  the 
Norman  knights  who  fought  there.     Only  the  founda- 


30  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST.  [1066. 

tion  of  the  building  now  remains ;  but  Americans  and 
Englishmen  still  like  to  trace  their  "Norman  blood" 
to  those  who  fought  in  this  most  important  battle. 

The  Norman  Conquest  was  unlike  any  other  con- 
quest of  England,  because  it  gave  only  a  new  set  of 
Effect  rulers,  and  left  the  laws  and  political  institu- 
Q^^^  tions  to  a  large  extent  unchanged.  Yet  there 
quest.  ^a.s  a  great  change  in  the  ownership  of  the  land, 
and  it  came  about  in  this  way.  In  the  first  place, 
William  claimed  that  ever  since  Edward's  death  he 
had  been  the  only  lawful  king  in  England.  If  this  was 
true,  then  it  followed  that  Harold  had  not  been  king 
at  all ;  and  from  this  it  followed  again  that  every  one 
who  had  supported  Harold,  or  had  failed  to  support 
William,  was  a  traitor.  Now,  it  was  the  English  law 
that  the  lands  of  traitors  should  be  taken  from  them, 
and  become  the  property  of  the  king.  Therefore,  as 
nearly  all  Englishmen  had  been  on  Harold's  side,  or 
had  opposed  William's  claim  in  some  way,  nearly  all 
lost  their  lands,  which  the  king  gave  to  his  favor- 
ites; and  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  not  by  mere 
right  of  conquest,  but  under  the  regular  forms  of 
English  law.  In  other  ways,  too,  the  same  thing  took 
place;  that  is,  the  old  forms  were  kept  up,  but  were 
in  the  hands  of  different  men.  The  English  "  Meeting 
of  the  Wise'  Men,"  for  instance,  was  still  continued, 
but  only  Normans  came  to  it.  However,  within  less 
than  a  hundred  years  the  Normans  themselves  changed 
very  much,  becoming  English  in  looks  and  manners, 
Continu-  ^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  really  hard  to  tell  from  which 
i^  °r  u     stock   a   man  was    descended.      Thus    the    old 

English 

history.  English  institutions  were  again  carried  on  by 
Englishmen.     This  continuity  of  English  history  is  a 


io86.]  DOMESDAY   BOOK.  3 1 

very  important  fact.  To  it  we  owe  much  that  is  best  in 
our  laws  and  institutions,  and  to  it  we  owe  the  best 
and  strongest  part  of  our  speech. 

After  a  time  a  great  many  Englishmen  were  able  to 
buy  back  part  of  their  land  from  their  Norman  rulers. 
Now,  all  landowners,  whether  English  or  Nor- 

1  •        1       •  11     ■>   et  •  n   •        Domes- 

man,  owed    certain  duties,  called     services,     in   day 

person  or  in  money  to  the  king,  as  their  "over- 
lord." To  find  out  exactly  what  was  due  him,  the 
Conqueror  sent  men  to  all  parts  of  England  to  look 
into  the  titles  of  estates  and  estimate  their  value. 
The  results  were  most  carefully  written  down  in  a 
great  book,  called  the  "Domesday  Book,"  which  was 
then  kept  at  Winchester.  It  can  still  be  seen  at  Lon 
don,  and  is  so  valuable  that  every  page  has  been  photo- 
graphed and  reprinted  exactly  as  it  was  first  written. 

It  took  about  a  year  to   make  this  Great   Survey. 
When  it  was  done,  William  ordered  all  but  the  small- 
est landowners  to  meet  him  on  Salisbury  Plain.  The  oath 
Sixty  thousand  came.     They  took  a  most  solemn  bury**^" 
oath  to  support  William  as  king,,  even  against  (i°86). 
their  own  lords.      This  made  the  English  for  the  first 
time  one  nation.      It  was  also  a  most  important  modi- 
fication of  the  feudal  system,  for  it  made  all  landowners 
directly  subject  to  the  king.      Then,  too,  William  did 
away  with  the  old  earldoms,  and  his  foresight  in  these 
regards  prevented  his  nobles  or  barons  from  becoming 
the  equals  of  their  king,  as  was  the  case  in  France  and 
Germany.     Thus  England,  in  a  great  measure,  escaped 
the  petty  wars  which  for  centuries  disturbed  the  rest 
of  western  Europe. 

In  many  other  ways,  too,  the  Norman  Conquest  af- 
fected England.     For  example,  before  long  all  the  best 


32  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST.  [1086. 

places  in  the  Church  were  filled  with  foreigners.  But 
most  of  the  new  bishops  and  abbots  were  far  supe- 
influence  ^^^^  ^^  morals  and  education  to  the  Engiish- 
ofthe      nien   whom   they  succeeded.     They  were   also 

Roman  -^ 

Catholic  devoted  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  soon  made  the 
on"^*^  English  National  Church  a  part  of  the  Roman 
England.  (^^^i^qJj^,  Church.  But  William,  while  willing  to 
bow  to  the  Pope  as  his  chief  in  religious  matters,  refused 
to  give  way  to  him  in  things  which  concerned  only 
this  world.  No  former  English  king  had  done  that, 
he  knew,  and  no  more  would  he.  This  union  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  was  of  the  greatest  benefit  to 
England,  as  it  brought  her  once  more  into  connection 
with  the  educated  men  of  Europe.  Indeed,  Lanfranc, 
the  Conqueror's  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  one  of 
the  best  and  wisest  men  of  his  day. 

In  character  the  first  William  was  stern  to  those 
who  disobeyed  him.  "  So  harsh  and  cruel  was  he  that 
The  New  1^0^^  dared  withstand  him,"  says  an  old  chroni- 
Forest.  ^.jg^  j^^^  j^  must  bc  remembered  that  it  took  a 
man  of  very  strong  will  to  rule  England  at  that  time. 
Next  to  war,  William's  greatest  passion  was  for  hunt- 
ing. "  He  loved  the  tall  deer  as  though  he  had  been 
their  father."  To  provide  a  home  for  them  he  ordered 
a  large  tract  in  Hampshire  to  be  turned  into  a  forest. 
And  still  better  to  preserve  them,  he  made  a  law  that 
any  one  who  should  kill  a  deer  without  leave  should 
lose  both  his  eyes.  The  very  name  of  this  New  Forest, 
therefore,  was  hateful  to  his  subjects,  and  two  of  his 
sons  and  one  grandson  lost  their  lives  within  its 
limits. 

The  Normans  were  great  builders.  The  White 
Tower  —  the  oldest  part  of  the  Tower  of  London  — 


KJRAL  LIFE  IN  THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 


33 


c^[H=^ 


34  THE  NORMAN   CONQUEST.  [1087. 

was  built  by  the  Conqueror  as  a  fortress  to  hold  the 
Londoners  in  check.  The  old  Westminster  lo^^j^j^ 
Hall  was  the  work  of  his  son  William,  the  Red    Tower 

and 

King,    while    all    over    England    some    of    the   West- 
grandest  cathedral   churches  were  planned  and    Hall 
built  by  the  early  Norman  bishops. 

The  Conqueror's  last  years  were  very  unhappy. 
His  oldest  son,  Robert,  rebelled,  and  the  French  king 
did  his  utmost  to  annoy  him.  At  last,  in  an-  wii 
swer  to  one  of  this  king's  insults,  William  Jg^^^ 
ordered  the  little  town  of  Mantes  to  be  burned.  ('°S7). 
While  he  was  riding  through  the  town  to  see  that  his 
orders  were  carried  out,  his  horse  stepped  on  a  burn- 
ing coal.  The  king's  fat  body  was  thrown  against  the 
high  point  of  his  saddle,  and  in  three  weeks  he  died. 
Normandy  passed  under  the  rule  of  his  eldest  son, 
Robert.  The  second  son,  William,  received  his  ring 
and  a  letter  to  Lanfranc  desiring  the  archbishop  to 
crown  him  as  king  of  England,  if  it  were  right.  To 
Henry,  the  youngest  son,  he  gave  only  a  sum  of 
money.  As  soon  as  the  Conqueror  was  dead  his  sons 
hastened  away  to  take  possession  of  their  inheritances. 
So  stern  had  he  been  to  his  servants  that  they  refused 
to  touch  his  body;  and  it  was  with  difificulty  that  even 
a  piece  of  land  was  bought  for  a  grave. 


A   SILVER  PENNY  OF   WILLIAM   THE   CONQUEROR. 


QUESTIONS.  35 


OUTLINE. 

Edward  the  Confessor  succeeded  by  Harold,  son  of  Earl  God- 
win. William  the  Norman  claims  the  crown,  lands  at  Hastings, 
defeats  Harold,  and  becomes  king.  William  the  Conqueror  re- 
organizes England  :  Domesday  Book  ;  the  oath  of  Salisbury  Plain ; 
•jnion  with  Rome. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  was  Harold  ?  what  claim  had  he  to  the  crown  ? 

2.  Tell  all  you  know  about  William  the  Conqueror. 

3.  What  was  Domesday  Book.'' 

TOPICS. 

1.  The  Battle  of  Hastings.  Freeman's  S/ior^  History  of  the 
Norman  Conquest. 

2.  Resistance  of  the  English.  Green's  Short  History,  Ch.  II. 
§  iv.;  Charles  Kingsley's  He  reward  the  Wake. 


SAXON    HORSEMEN    flf.'VRL.    MS.    603). 


36  WILLIAM   IT.,  THE   RED.  [1087. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    NORMAN    KINGS. 
1087-I154, 

THE  younger  William  had  a  big  red  face,  and  peo 
pie  called  him  Rufus,  or  the  Red.      Many  of  the 
great  barons  of  England,  owning  large  estates  in  Nor- 
mandy, would  have  preferred  to  have  but  one  ruler  for 
„..„.       both  countries.      But  Robert  was  absent,  and  as 

W  illiam  ' 

II.,  the  William  Rufus  promised  Lanfranc  to  govern 
(1087-     well,  the  archbishop  crowned  him  king  without 

delay.  William  was  a  good  soldier  and  hun- 
ter, and  he  kept  the  nobles  in  order;  but  there  was 
nothing  else  that  was  good  about  him. 

Above  all,  he  was  fond  of  extravagance  and  show. 
One  day  his  servants  brought  him  a  pair  of  new  boots. 

"  How  much  did  they  cost  ?  "  demanded  the  king. 

His  -'  ^ 

extrava-  "Three  shillings,"  the  man  replied.  In  a  rage 
gance.  ^^^  ^q,\  King  threw  them  from  him,  demanding 
boots  that  cost  three  times  as  much.  The  servant  was 
a  sharp  man.  He  soon  returned  with  a  pair  of  cheaper 
boots,  though  he  told  his  master  they  were  very  expen- 
sive. "Ay,"  exclaimed  Rufus,  as  he  pulled  them 
on,  "these  are  suited  to  royal  majesty."  After  this 
his  servants  always  charged  him  twice  as  much  as  his 
food  and  clothes  really  cost.  They  grew  rich  very 
fast.  But  the  English  people,  who  had  to  pay  for  all 
this  waste,  were  not  very  sorry  when  the  Red  King  was 


iioo.]  HENRY   I.  37 

found  one  afternoon  in  the  New  Forest  with  an  arrow 
in  his  shoulder.  No  one  knows  who  killed  him.  An 
intimate  companion  named  Wat  Tyrrel,  who  His 
was  with  him  at  the  time,  rode  away  as  fast  as  ^^^^' 
he  could.  It  is  thought  that  perhaps  Wat  Tyrrel 
killed  him  by  accident.  Others  say  his  servants  shot 
him.  At  any  rate,  no  sooner  was  the  breath  out  of 
his  body  than  his  servants  deserted  him.  If  a  poor 
charcoal  man  had  not  found  the  body,  and  carried  it 
to  Winchester  in  his  cart,  William  Rufus  might  never 
have  been  buried. 

It  chanced  that  the  Conqueror's  youngest  son  Henry 
was  riding  in  the  New  Forest  at  the  time.     The  instant 
he  knew  of  his  brother's  death  he  put  spurs  to 
his  horse  and  galloped  to   Winchester,   where  (uoo- 
the  royal  treasure  was  then  kept.     After  he  had       ^  " 
once  made  sure  of  that,  his  election  was  certain,  and 


THE    NORMAN    KINGS. 

{English  kings  in  italics.) 

Rollo,  or  Rolf,  Duke  of  Normandy. 

I 
William. 

Richard  the  Fearless. 
I 

Richard  the  Good.  Ethelred  the  Unready  (i)  w.  Emma  ;«.  (2)  Cnut. 

I  I  I 

Robert  the  Devil.  Edward  the  Confessor.  Harthacnut. 

I 
William  /.,  the  Conqueror. 


I      TTi^       \ r 

)bert. 


Robert.     Richard.    William  II.,    Henry  I.  m.  Edith  (Matilda),  Adela  W.Stephen 
Rufus.  I  descendant  of  |  of  Blois. 

I  Cedric.  Step/ten. 

William  Maud  (Matilda)  m.  Geoffrey  of  Anjou. 

(drowned).  | 

Henry  II. 
(iieep.  51,) 


38  THE  NORMAN  KINGS.  [iioo. 

three  days  later  he  was  crowned  at  Westminster.  Still 
there  were  many  barons  who  would  have  preferred  the 
elder  brother  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  for  king; 
so  Henry  was  obliged  to  fall  back  on  the  native  Eng- 
lish for  support.  To  please  them  he  married  Edith,  or 
Matilda,  daughter  of  the  king  of  Scots.  She  was 
descended,  through  her  mother,  from  the  old  English 
line,  and  in  this  way  a  descendant  of  Cedric  again 
came  to  rule  in  England.  This  marriage  bound  the 
English  to  Henry,  and  they  stood  by  him  in  all  his 
quarrels  and  wars. 

Indeed,  he  soon  found  himself  so  strong  in  England 
that  he  crossed  over  to    Normandy,   took  his  brother, 
Duke  Robert  prisoner,  and  shut  him  up  for  the 

Conquers  ,  ^  ^ 

Nor-  rest  of  his  life.  What  was  more  important  still, 
he  conquered  a  large  part  of  Wales  and  joined 
it  to  England.  In  England  itself  he  governed  so  well 
that  an  old  writer  declared :  "  No  man  durst  ill-treat 
another  in  his  days.  Peace  he  made  for  man  and 
beast."  He  had  a  good  education,  too,  for  a  soldier 
of  his  time,  and  people  called  him  "Beauclerc,"  — 
good-scholar. 

Henry  had  two  children,  William  and  Matilda,  or 
Maud.  He  was  very  fond  of  them,  and  they  often  ac- 
companied him  in  his  journeyings.  One  after- 
White  noon  he  sailed  from  a  little  harbor  on  the  French 
coast  for  England.  His  son  followed  in  "The 
White  Ship,"  whose  captain  was  the  son  of  the  very 
captain  who  had  steered  the  great  William  on  his  con- 
quering voyage.  The  young  people  delayed,  dancing 
and  drinking  till  it  was  dark.  Then,  just  as  she  was 
leaving  the  harbor,  "The  White  Ship"  struck  on  a 
rock  and  went  down.     As  the  prince  with  a  few  others 


1135-1  STEPHEN.  39 

was  rowing  away  in  a  little  boat,  he  heard  his  fair 
cousin,  the  Countess  of  Perche,  calling  after  him.  He 
went  back.  The  drowning  men  crowded  into  the  boat. 
It  sank,  and  when  morning  dawned  one  only,  a  butcher 
of  Rouen,  was  saved.  When  Henry  heard  of  his  son's 
sad  end  he  dropped  senseless  to  the  floor,  and  is  said 
never  to  have  smiled  again. 

But  Henry  did  not  give  up  all  idea  of  founding  a 
line  of  kings.  He  made  the  barons  swear  to  be  true 
to  his  daughter  Maud,  and  then  married  her  Geoffrey 
to  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  Count  of  Anjou,  one  ^afriis" 
of  the  greatest  nobles  in  France.  No  sooner  ^*"^- 
was  Henry  dead,  however,  than  his  barons  broke 
their  oaths,  and  made  his  nephew,  Stephen,  king  of 
England. 

This  Stephen  was  a  handsome,  good-natured,  popu 
lar  man,  and  at  first  everything  went  well  with  him. 
He  even  defeated  Maud's  uncle,  David,  king  of 
Scots,  in  battle.      But  when  he  had  given  to  the    (1135- 
barons  much  of  the   land  and  money  belonging    "^"^  ' 
to  the  Crown,  they  deserted  him,  and  took  the  part  of 
Maud.      She  came  to  England,  and  at  first  was  so  suc- 
cessful that  Stephen  was  captured  and  put  in  prison, 
and  she  was  recognized  as  queen,  or  rather  "lady,"  of 
the  English.     Maud  even  went  to  London  to  be  crowned. 
But  she  was  so  haughty  and  proud  that  the  Londoners 
turned   her   out  before   her   coronation-day.      Stephen, 
too,  gained  his  freedom,  and  in  the  end   Maud  had  to 
flee  from  England. 

This  civil  war  lasted  fourteen  years.     It  was  a    civil 
terrible  time  for  the  English  people.     The  great    ^*^''* 
barons  would  sometimes  come  forth  from  their  castles 
and  plunder  whole  towns.     The  roads  were  so  unsafe, 


40 


THE  NORMAN   KINGS. 


["54- 


it  is  said,  that  a  lonely  traveller,  if  he  saw  another  man 
in  the  distance,  would  leave  the  road  and  try  to  conceal 

himself  until  dan- 
ger was  over.  But 
in  1 153  the  bishops 
contrived  to  make 
an  agreement  by 
which  Stephen  was 
to  be  king  for  the 
rest  of  his  life,  with 
the  understanding 
that  at  his  death 
the  throne  should 
go  to  Maud's  son, 
Henry  Plantagenet. 

SEAL  OF   MILO   OF   GLOUCESTER,   SHOWING  Thc  UCXt  yCar 

MOUNTED   ARMED    FIGURE    IN    THE  Steohen     dicd 

REIGN    OF    HENRY   I.  ^ 


OUTLINE 

William  Rufus  rules  badly  and  is  murdered.  His  brother 
Henry  governs  well  and  adds  Normandy  to  England.  The  wreck 
of  the  "  White  Ship"  destroys  his  only  son.  After  Henry's  death 
years  of  anarchy  come. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  can  you  say  about  William  Rufus? 

2.  What  was  the  character  of  Henry's  government  ? 

3.  Tell  about  Maud,  who  she  was,  whom  she  married,  and  what 
she  accomplished  ? 

TOPIC. 

The  loss  of  the  White  Ship.  Mrs.  Hemans'  //e  never  smiled 
again ,-  D.  G.  Rossetti's  T/ie  White  Ship. 


1154]  HENRY  11. 


41 


CHAPTER   VII. 

HENRY    THE    SECOND    AND    RICHARD    THE    LION-HEARTED. 
1154-1199. 

HENRY  the   Second  was  only  twenty-one   years 
old  when  he  became  king  of  England.      But 
he  already  was  a  very  powerful  man,  as  he  ruled  over 
more  than  one-third  of  France.      He  was  called  Plan- 
tagenet,   from  a  bit  of  broom  plant  {plante-de-  Henry 
genet)   which    he    and    his    father   were   accus-  (\'i-._ 
tomed  to  wear  in  their  helmets  to  distinguish  "^9)- 
them  from  other  knights. 

Henry  was  a  very  great  king.  He  made  many 
changes  in  the  laws  and  customs  of  England,  the 
effects  of  which  we  still  feel.  He  divided  His 
England  into  circuits,  and  appointed  persons,  on  '"^f*^''"^''- 
whom  he  could  rely,  to  travel  round  in  these  circuits, 
and  see  that  all  men,  nobles  and  commons  alike, 
obeyed  the  laws.  The  English  judges  still  travel 
through  England,  as  do  many  American  judges  through 
our  country.  When  these  judges  came  together  in 
London,  they  sat  as  the  King's  Court,  and  were  then 
called  justices.  When  hearing  cases  in  which  the 
king's  revenue  was  concerned,  they  were  called  barons 
of  the  exchequer,  —  a  word  which  is  still  used  as  the 
name  of  one  of  the  departments  of  the  English  govern- 
ment.    But  the  oriijin  of  the  name  is  doubtful. 


42  THE   FIRST  TWO    PLANTAGENETS.  [1164. 

All  these  good  things  Henry  was  able  to  do  because 
he  had  the  support  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
Shield-  H^  trusted  them,  and  instead  of  disarming 
money,  them,  Ordered  every  freeman  to  keep  arms  suita- 
ble to  his  social  position.  In  addition  to  this  national 
militia,  Henry  had  a  feudal  army.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  since  the  time  of  the  great  William  nearly 
all  English  land  was  held  on  what  was  called  a  feudal 
tenure.  That  is,  instead  of  paying  rent  for  their  pieces 
of  land,  or  feuds,  the  great  landholders  promised  to 
serve  the  king  in  time  of  war  with  their  followers  for 
forty  days  every  year  at  their  own.  expense.  Henry 
made  a  law  that  all  who  were  legally  obliged  to  follow 
him,  and  yet  wished  to  stay  at  home,  could  do  so  if 
they  would  pay  '^  shield-money,"  or  "scutage,"  instead. 
A  very  great  many  preferred  to  stay  at  home ;  and  with 
this  money  Henry  hired  a  large  army  of  foreigners. 
The  result  was  that  the  barons  grew  less  and  less  war- 
like, and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Crown  was  much 
strengthened. 

There  was  one  thing,  however,  that  proved  even 
stronger  than  Henry  Plantagenet;  that  was  the 
^^^(,^^_  Church.  The  king  wished  to  have  the  clergy, 
stitutions  whenever  thev  committed  criminal  acts,  tried  by 

of  Clar-  -I  ,  XT  -.1 

endon  his  judgcs,  like  other  people.  He  summoned  the 
bishops  and  the  great  barons  to  Clarendon,  and 
by  the  "  Constitutions  "  formed  at  that  place  they  all 
agreed  to  do  as  he  wished.  The  Pope  did  not  approve 
this,  and,  following  him,  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury withdrew  his  consent.  Henry  could  not  reach 
the  Pope,  but  he  revenged  himself  on  the  archbishop. 
This  was  Thomas  Becket,  the  son  of  a  Norman  citizen 
of  London.      In  earlier  days  he  and  Henry  had  been 


1189]  CONQUEST   OF   IRELAND.  43 

trreat  friends ;  but  no  sooner  had  Thomas  become  arch- 
bishop  than  he  did  all  he  could  to  strengthen  the 
Church,  whether  the  king  liked  it  or  not.  Becket  fled 
to  France;  but  in  1170  he  and  Henry  became  recon- 
ciled. He  had  hardly  reached  Canterbury,  however, 
before  he  suspended  the  Archbishop  of  York,  who  had 
done  Henry  a  service.  When  Henry  heard  this  he 
flew  into  a  passion,  exclaiming:  "What  cowards  have 
I  brought  up  in  my  court!  Not  one  will  rid  me  of 
this  low-born  priest."  Reginald  Fitzurse  and  three 
other  knights  took  this  as  an  order.  They  hurried  to 
Canterbury,  pursued  Thomas  Becket  even  to  the  altar 
in  the  cathedral,  and  killed  him.  It  was  a  dreadful 
deed,  and  Henry  was  very  sorry  that  he  had  lost  his 
temper.  Indeed,  all  his  good  fortune  seemed  to  desert 
him  from  that  time,  until  he  knelt  before  Becket's 
tomb  and  bade  the  monks  beat  his  bare  shoulders. 

It  was  in  Henry's  reign  that  Richard  of  Clare, 
Maurice  Fitz-Gerald,  and  other  Norman  knights  went 
over  to  Ireland  and  put  Dermot,  king  of  Lein- 
ster,  back  on  his  throne  again.  After  Dermot 's  quest  of 
death,  Richard  of  Clare  married  his  daughter,  ^^^^  ' 
and  ruled  over  Leinster;  but  he  was  afraid  of  Henry's 
jealousy,  and  gave  up  his  conquests  to  him.  Henry 
crossed  over  to  Ireland,  and  was  recognized  as  the 
sovereign  of  the  island.  But  he  never  really  con- 
quered it,  and  for  hundreds  of  years  Ireland  remained 
the  scene  of  strife  between  the  descendants  of  the 
Normans  on  the  one  side,  and  their  Irish  neighbors  on 
the  other. 

Henry's  last  years  were  even  more  unhappy  than 
those  of  the  Conqueror.  His  sons  rebelled,  and  ^enr 's 
were  so  ably  assisted  by  King  Philip  Augustus  so"*' 


44 


THE  FIRST  TWO   PLANTAGENETS. 


EFFIGipS  QF   HENRY  THE   SECOND  AlSfl)  QUEEN   ELEANOR. 


1192]  RICHARD  I. 


45 


of  France  that  he  had  to  submit  to  their  demands.  He 
asked  to  see  the  list  of  those  joined  against  him.  It 
was  headed  by  the  name  of  his  favorite  son,  John. 
The  old  king's  heart  was  broken.  "  Now  let  things  go 
as  they  will,"  he  said;  "I  care  no  more  for  myself  or 
the  world."     In  a  few  weeks  he  was  dead. 

But  John  did  not  at  once  become  king,  for  Richard, 
his  elder  brother,  was  in  the  way.  Richard  came  over 
to  London,  was  crowned,  and  then,  as  soon  as  „.  ^  j, 

'  '  Richard  1. 

he  had  scraped  together  all  the  money  he  could,  ("89- 

ii99)» 

set  out  with  his  friend  King  Philip  to  conquer 
the  Holy  Land.  They  quarrelled  almost  as  soon  as 
they  reached  that  land,  and  Philip  returned  home  to 
seize  all  of  Richard's  French  possessions  that  he  could 
reach.  In  England,  too,  John  rose  to  the  head  of 
affairs,  although  Richard  had  left  a  friend  of  his  own 
to  govern  in  his  absence.  Richard  did  not  lay  siege  to 
Jerusalem,  but  set  off  on  his  return  to  England.  He 
was  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  and  while 
trying  to  get  through  Austria  unseen,  was  arrested  and 
kept  close  prisoner  until  the  English  people  paid  a 
large  ransom.  It  is  said  that  John  even  tried  to  bribe 
the  P^mpcror  to  keep  him  still  longer. 

At  any  rate,  when  he  got  back  to  England,  Richard 
did  not  punish  John  very  severely  for  his  disloyalty. 
As  soon  as  he  got  together  an  army,  however,  Richard's 
Richard  crossed  over  to  France  to  take  vengeance '^^**'^- 
on  Philip  Augustus.  He  accomplished  little,  and  while 
trying  to  capture  a  castle  in  his  own  dominions  he 
was  mortally  wounded  by  an  arrow.  The  castle  sur- 
rendered before  he  died,  and  he  ordered  all  within 
it  to  be  hanged,  'except  the  boy  who  had  shot  him. 
•'What  have  I   done  that  you   should  take  my  life?" 


46  THE   FIRST  TWO    PLANTAGENETS.  [1199- 

said  the  king.     ''  You  have  killed  my  father  and  two 
brothers,"  was  the  reply. 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  was  in  England  for  but  eight 
months  during  his  whole  reign.  He  cared  nothing  for 
His  place  England  or  for  Englishmen,  except  as  they  sup- 
iand'"^"  plied  him  with  money  to  carry  on  his  costly 
history,  wars.  Nevertheless,  he  soon  came  to  be  looked 
upon  as  the  nation's  hero,  and  he  is  described  as  such 
in  Scott's  novel,  '*  Ivanhoe."  Traditions  gathered 
about  his  name  all  over  Europe,  and  it  is  said  that  for 
hundreds  of  years  the  tired  Arab  mothers  were  wont  to 
terrify  their  crying  babes  into  silence  with,  "  Hush  ye  ! 
here  comes  King  Richard." 


OUTLINE. 

Henry  II.  (Plantagenet)  reforms  the  army  and  tries  to  limit 
the  power  of  the  Church.  This  leads  to  a  dispute  with  Thomas 
Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  is  murdered.  Henry  be- 
comes King  of  Ireland.  Richard  the  Lion-Hearted :  his  crusade 
and  his  quarrel  with  Philip  of  France. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  countries  did  Henry  rule  over.? 

2.  Describe  shield-money.     Why  was  it  important? 

3.  Tell  all  you  know  about  Thomas  Becket. 

4.  Was  Richard  a  good  king  ? 

TOPIC. 

Richard  the  Lion-Hearted  and  his  Crusade.  Scott's  Talisman 
and  Ivanhoe.  The  Story  of  Robin  Hood,  Scott's  Ivanhoe; 
Howard  Pyle's  Robin  Hood  and  his  Merry  Men, 


I99-]  PRINCE  ARTHUR. 


47 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

KING   JOHN    AND    MAGNA    CHARTA. 
II99-1216. 

RICHARD'S  younger  brother  John  was  crowned 
king  in  England.  But  in  France  there  were 
many  nobles  who  wished  to  have  John's  nephew, 
Prince  Arthur,  for  their  duke.  Philip  Augustus  took 
the  young  prince's  side.  John  captured  the  prince 
boy,  and  ordered  Hubert  de  Burgh  to  put  out  Arthur, 
his  eyes.  "For,"  thought  he,  "the  Normans  will 
never  want  a  blind  man  to  be  their  duke."  But  the 
poor  boy  begged  so  hard  that  Hubert  did  not  have  the 
heart  to  carry  out  his  orders.  There  was  no  mercy 
in  John,  however,  and  after  he  got  possession  of 
Prince  Arthur  the  boy  was  never  seen  again.  Men 
said  that  John  had  stabbed  him  to  death;  but  no  one 
really  knows  how  he  died. 

Now,  John,  as  Duke  of  Normandy  and  Count  of 
Anjou,  was  a  vassal  of  the  king  of  France.  So  Philip 
summoned  him  to  Paris  to  clear  himself  of  many  phuipof 
charges.     John,  who  knew  better    than   to   trust  ''ranee 

°  -^  seizes 

himself    within    Philip's    power,    refused    to    ap-  Nor- 
pear,  and    so    Philip    seized   his    French   domin-  and 
ions.     Aquitaine  and  the  Channel  Islands  alone  '  "^*^"' 
remained  to  the  English  Crown.     Aquitaine   has  long 
since    been    lost;     but    the    Channel    Islands    (Jersey, 
Guernsey,    Alderney,    and    Sark)    still    belong   to   the 


48  KING   JOHN   AND    MAGNA   CHARTA.  [1213. 

English  sovereign,  —  the  only  remnant  of  the  Norman 
possessions  of  William  the  Conqueror.  In  this  way 
John  was  forced  to  become  a  real  English  king. 

His  next  quarrel  was  with  the  Pope.  It  was  about 
the  election  of  a  new  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The 
The  Pope  declared  that  an  Englishman,  Stephen 
interdict.  L^ngton  by  name,  was  the  duly  elected  arch- 
bishop. John  refused  to  recognize  him.  Then  the 
Pope  ordered  all  religious  services  to  cease  in  Eng- 
land. This  was  called  an  interdict.  If  we  remember 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  was  then  the  only  re- 
ligion practised  in  England,  we  can  see  how  serious  a 
thing  this  interdict  was.  It  lasted  six  years,  and  for 
six  years  almost  no  one  was  married  with  regular  re- 
ligious services  in  all  England.  Still  John  did  not 
yield.  So  the  Pope  cast  him  out  of  the  Church,  or 
excommunicated  him.  And  as  this  did  not  bring  him 
to  terms,  the  Pope  deposed  him,  or  declared  him  to  be 
no  king  at  all,  and  ordered  Philip  Augustus  to  carry 
out  the  sentence. 

Now,  if  John  had  been  a  good  king,  he  might  perhaps 
have  been  strong  enough  at  home  to  care  very  little 
John  for  the  Pope  and  the  French  king  put  together, 
tothe*^  But  unfortunately  he  was  a  very  bad  ruler,  and 
^°P^-  all  his  people  hated  him.  So  he  soon  found 
that  his  barons  were  actually  conspiring  with  the 
French  Philip  against  him.  This  so  alarmed  him  that 
he  not  only  recognized  Langton  as  archbishop,  but 
he  put  himself  and  his  kingdom  under  the  protection 
of  the  Pope,  actually  agreeing  to  pay  rent  for  it. 

Philip  never  came  over,  but  John  kept  on  governing 
as  badly  as  ever.  The  barons  determined  to  stop  it. 
With  their  armed  followers  they  marched  to  London, 


tlis.]  THE  GREAT  CHARTER.  49 

Nearly  every  one  deserted  John.     He  met  the  barons 
on  a  little  island  in  the  Thames  not  far  from  Windsor 
and  near  the  meadow  of  Runneymead.     There,    ^^^  ^^ 
on  the   15th  of  June,   12 15,  he   assented  to  the   charta 
Magna  Charta,  or  Great  Charter,  which  his  barons 
presented  to  him.     This  can  still  be    seen,   carefully 
preserved,  in  the  British  Museum,  and  it  is  the  most 
important  document  in  English  history. 

In  England  there  is  no  written  frame  of  government 
like  the  American  constitution.  The  English  govern- 
ment is  based  on  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  The  pro- 
kingdom,  and  especially  on  three  great  docu-  ^'*'°"s- 
ments,  — this  Great  Charter  of  rights  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  the  Petition  of  Right  and  Bill  of  Rights 
of  the  Stuart  time.  These  documents  are  so  important 
that  Lord  Chatham  once  called  them  "The  Bible  of 
the  English  constitution."  The  Great  Charter  is  in 
reality  a  treaty  between  the  king  and  the  people  of 
England.  To  it  we,  in  common  with  English-speak- 
ing people  the  world  over,  owe  many  of  the  rights 
which  distinguish  us  from  all  other  nations. 

The  most  important  clause  of  this  Great  Charter  was 
that  relating  to  taxation.  Richard,  and  after  him 
John,  had  wrung  tax  after  tax  from  the  barons  and 
people.  The  barons  now  determined  to  put  an  end  to 
this.  It  was  provided,  therefore,  in  the  charter  that 
thenceforth  no  tax  (other  than  a  few  taxes  specified  in 
the  charter  itself)  should  be  laid  by  the  king  without 
the  consent  of  the  nation,  given  through  a  national 
council.  It  was  further  provided  that  all  the  greater 
barons  should  be  summoned  to  this  council  by  a  royal 
summons  directed  to  each  one  of  them,  while  the  lesser 
landholders  were  to  be  summoned  in  a  less  formal  way, 


^O  KING  JOHN   AND   MAGNA   CHARTA.  I1216 

by  a  writ  directed  to  the  sheriff  of  their  shire.  This 
provision  never  went  into  actual  operation,  and  was 
omitted  from  the  later  issues  of  the  charter.  Yet  its 
importance  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  It  was  the 
basis  for  the  summoning  of  Simon  of  Montfort's  Par- 
liament, and  of  the  first  regular  Parliament  in  the 
great  Edward's  time. 

The  more  famous  sentences  of  the  Great  Charter  are 
the  following,  which  have  been  thus  translated  from 
the  original  Latin :  "  No  free  man  shall  be  taken,  or 
imprisoned,  or  disseised  [dispossessed],  or  outlawed,  or 
exiled,  or  any  ways  destroyed.  Nor  will  we  go  upon 
him,  nor  send  upon  him,  unless  by  the  lawful  judgment 
of  his  peers  [equals],  or  by  the  law  of  the  land."  "To 
none  will  we  sell,  to  none  will  we  deny  or  delay  right 
or  justice."  It  is  on  these  sentences  that  the  right  to 
a  speedy  trial  by  jury  is  based,  "the  most  effectual 
security  against  oppression  which  the  wisdom  of  man 
has  hitherto  been  able  to  devise." 

Twenty-five  barons  were  chosen  to  see  that  King 
John  obeyed  the  Charter.  In  truth,  he  had  no  idea 
John's  of  doing  what  he  had  promised.  It  is  said 
death.  ^-^SLt  he  was  so  angry  at  having  been  compelled 
to  sign  it  that  he  rolled  on  the  floor  in  rage,  and 
gnawed  a  stick.  The  Pope  soon  declared  that  the 
charter  had  no  force,  as  the  king  had  been  compelled 
to  sign  it;  and  John  hired  some  French  soldiers  to 
help  him  put  down  his  barons.  But  Stephen  Langton, 
the  archbishop,  took  their  side,  and  they  resolved 
to  have  a  new  king.  So  they  called  Prince  Louis  of 
France  to  be  their  ruler.  As  soon  as  he  appeared, 
John's  French  soldiers  refused  to  fight.  The  Scots  and 
Welsh  turned  against  their  king;  and  there  is  every 


I2l6.] 


JOHN'S   DEATI] 


51 


reason  to  believe  that  he  would  have  been  the  last  of  his 
race  to  rule  in  England,  had  not  the  vexation  of  spirit 
at  his  losses  thrown  him  into  a  fever,  from  which  he 
died.  It  may  be  that  too  many  peaches  and  too  much 
ale  hastened  his  end,  and  there  is  a  story  that  he  was 
poisoned  by  a  monk.  In  whatever  manner  he  died,  the 
English  people  were  not  sorry  to  have  him  out  of  the 
way. 

THE   EARLIER   PLANTAGENETS. 

Henry  II. 

(See  page  37.) 


Henry. 
tii82.  s.  p. 


Richard  1. 


Geoffrey. 

Arthur  of 
Brittany. 


John. 


Henry  III. 
(See  p.  79.) 


Eleanor 
m.  Earl 
Simon  of 
Monfort. 


OUTLINE. 

Richard's  younger  brother  John  was  crowned  king  in  England. 
Thereupon  Philip  seizes  his  French  territories.  John  then  quar- 
rels with  the  Pope,  but  is  forced  to  give  in.  The  barons  then 
compel  him  to  sign  Magna  Charta,  which  he  does  not  observe. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Tell  the  story  of  John  and  Prince  Arthur. 

2.  When  was  Magna  Charta  made  ?     Why  is  it  famous  ? 

3.  Repeat  the  most  famous  sentences  of  Magna  Charta. 

TOPIC. 
The  death  of  Prince  Arthur,  Shakspere's  King  John. 


52 


HENRY   III.  [1216. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

HENRY    IIL 
I216-1272. 

A  FEW  barons  had  stood  by  John  to  the  end,  ana 
one  of  them,  William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, proclaimed  John's  son  as  king,  under  the  title 
of  Henry  HI.  As  the  new  king  was  only  nine  years 
old,  Pembroke  ruled  for  him.  The  first  thing  he  did 
was  to  re-issue  the  Great  Charter.  This  pleased  the 
barons,  and  they  deserted  the  French  prince  in  such 
numbers  that  he  was  glad  to  get  back  to  France 
alive. 

But  in  time  Henry  grew  up,  and  began  to  govern  as 
badly  as  his  father  had  ever  governed.  Above  all,  he 
made  the  barons  pay  a  great  deal  of  money  to  support 
his  foreign  wars.  The  barons  rebelled,  and  compelled 
Henry  to  place  the  government  of  England  in  their 
hands.  Then  they  quarrelled  among  themselves,  and 
as  Henry  had  the  Pope  on  his  side,  he  tried  to  get  his 
power  back  again. 

Even  in  those  old  days  young  men  came  from  all 
parts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales  to  the  college 
at  Oxford  to  pursue  their  education.  They 
thought  on  political  subjects  very  much  as  their 
fathers  thought;  and  having  no  responsibility  in  the 
matter,  expressed  their  feelings  more  openly  than  did 
their  fathers.      In  fact,  their  fights   in  the  streets  of 


.65.1 


EARL  SIMON  OF  MONTFORT. 


53 


Oxford  so  often  showed 
the  position  which  their 
fathers  were  about  to 
take  that  it  became  a 
common  saying : 

"When   Oxford    draws    the 
knife, 
England  's  soon  at  strife." 

They  now  showed  the 
approach  of  civil  war 
by  driving  the  Pope's 
legate,  or  lieutenant, 
out  of  Oxford. 

The  head  of  the  na- 
tional party  was  Simon 
of  Montfort.  He  Earl 
was  by  birth  a  ^7^' 
Frenchman;  but  ^^'"'• 
he  had  inherited  an 
English  earldom,  and 
had  become  a  thorough 
Englishman.  He  col- 
lected an  army,  and 
meeting  the  king  at 
Lewes,  captured  him 
and  his  whole  family. 
He  then  summoned  a 
Great  Council,  to  which 
not  only  the  barons  and 
large  land-owners  were 
admitted,  but  also  rep- 
resentatives   from    the 


EFFIGY  OF  A  KNIGHT  IN  THE  TEMPLE 
CHURCH,  LONDON,  SHOWING  ARMOR 
WORN  BETWEEN  1 190  AND  I225. 


54 


HENRY   III. 


I1265, 


great  towns,  or  boroughs.  For  some  time  the  Great 
Council  had  been  called  a  Parliament,  from  the  French 
Earl  word  pavlev,  "to  speak,"  because  affairs  were 
Simon's   sDokcn  about,   or  debated,    there.     This   Great 

Parlia-  , 

ment       Couucil  was  therefore  called  Earl  Simon's  Par- 
^  '     liament.       It  was   really  the   beginning  of  the 
present  form  of  government  in  England. 

It  happened  one  day  that  as  the  king's  eldest  son. 
Prince  Edward,  was  out  riding,  he  escaped  from  his 
Eves-  jailers.  Gathering  an  army,  he  came  upon  Earl 
^^'^'  Simon  at  Evesham,  and  overthrew  him.  The 
great  earl  was  killed  during  the  battle,  but  his  work 
did  not  perish  with  him,  for  Prince  Edward,  who  ruled 


SEAL  OF   ROBERT   FITZWALTER,   SHOWING   A   MOUNTED   KNIGHT   IN 
COMPLETE    MAIL   ARMOR.      DATE,   ABOUT    I265. 

for  his  father,  was  a  wise  man,  and  governed  well.     In 
fact,  so  quiet  did  the  barons  become  that  the  prince 


1272.]  ROGER  BACON.  55 

left  England  and  went  on  a  crusade.  Before  his  return 
King  Henry  died.  As  his  body  was  lying  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  Gilbert,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  placing 
his  hand  on  the  dead  king,  swore  allegiance  to  King 
Edward  the  First,  and  the  king  was  proclaimed. 

It  was  in  the  Third  Henry's  time  that  Roger  Bacon, 
a  great  scholar  and  a  friar,  put  forth  many  famous 
books  (^Opiis  Majus)y  applying  to  the  natural  sciences 
what  was  afterwards  called  the  inductive  method  of 
reasoning;  that  is,  reasoning  from  observation  and  ex- 
perience. It  is  said  that  the  clergy  were  so  afraid  that 
the  new  ideas  would  destroy  their  hold  on  the  minds  of 
men  that  they  put  Bacon  into  prison.  It  was  in  Henry's 
time,  too,  that  the  old  Norman  way  of  building  with 
round  arches  gave  place  to  the  lighter  style  of  pointed 
arches.  When,  in  its  turn,  this  latter  mode  went  out 
of  fashion,  men  called  it,  after  the  barbarous  Goths,  the 
Gothic  style.  Salisbury  Cathedral  is  one  of  the  most 
splendid  examples  of  this  mode  of  architecture. 

OUTLINE. 

John'.s  son  is  crowned  king  as  Henry  II  I.  He  governs  so  badly 
that  the  barons,  led  by  Simon  of  Montfort,  imprison  him.  But 
Prince  Edward  escapes,  defeats  the  rebels  at  Evesham,  and  on  his 
father's  death  is  proclaimed  king. 

QUESTIONS. 

1 .  Who  was  Earl  Simon  ?     What  was  his  most  important  act  .-* 

2.  What  was  the  difference  between  the  Norman  and  the 
Gothic  style  of  building  ? 


56  THE  FIRST  TWO   EDWARDS.  [1272. 


CHAPTER   X. 

EDWARD   THE    FIRST    AND    EDWARD,    HIS    SON. 
1272-1327. 

AS  the  new  king  was  the  first  of  his  name  to  rule 
in  England  since  the  Norman  Conquest,  he  was 
called  Edward  the  First.  He  was  a  very  great  and 
wise  man,  and  did  many  important  things.  The  first 
Fd  di  ^^^  ^^^  conquest  of  Wales ;  and  this  was  how 
"Long,    it  happened.     The  Welsh  chieftains  had  been 

shanks" 

(1272-  vassals  of  the  English  king  for  many  years. 
^■^°  '  But  Llewelyn,  who  was  prince  of  all  Wales  when 
Edward  became  king,  thought  that  it  would  be  a  good 
time  to  make  himself  an  independent  prince.  He  was 
betrothed  to  a  daughter  of  Earl  Simon,  and  it 

Conquers  ^  ' 

Wales  may  be  that  he  was  really  the  head  of  a  con- 
spiracy to  dethrone  Edward.  Now  the  king,  who 
had  defeated  Simon  of  Montfort  at  Evesham,  was  no 
ordinary  soldier,  and  in  a  short  time  he  conquered 
Wales,  and  compelled  the  prince  to  submit.  A  few 
years  later  Llewelyn  again  rebelled.  He  himself  was 
killed  in  a  chance  encounter,  but  his  brother,  the  real 
leader,  was  captured  and  executed.  From  that  day 
Prince  of  Edward  governed  Wales  as  if  it  were  a  part  of 
Wales.  England.  To  please  the  Welsh,  he  made  his 
eldest  son  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  title  has  been  borne 
by  the  eldest  son  of  the  king  of  England  ever  since. 
There  is  a  story  that  Edward  promised  to  give  them 
a  native   prince,   who    could   not    speak   one  word  of 


.2S4.J  THE   WELSH    BARDS.  57 

J'^.nglish,  and  that  he  then  showed  them  the  young 
]'>d\vard,  who  had  just  been  born  in  the  Welsh  castle 
of  Caernarvon.  But  it  is  not  certain  that  this  is  really 
true.  Another  story  is  that  Edward,  seeing  the  The 
Welsh  bards,  or  minstrels,  kept  alive  the  spirit  ^^'■^^• 
of  liberty,  ordered  them  all  to  be  killed.  No  historian 
now  believes  this,  but  it  forms  the  basis  of  a  poem 
called  "The  Bard,"  by  the  poet  Gray. 

It  so  happened  that  at  this  time  there  were  many 
claimants  to  the  crown  of  Scotland.  They  referred 
their  claims  to  Edward,  who  decided  that  John    „  ,..  , 

'  Balliol 

Balliol    ought    to    be    king.       Balliol    and   his   and 

rival,    Robert  Bruce,   were  of  Norman    descent 

on  their  father's    side.      They  inherited   their  claims 

SUCCESSION   TO  THE   SCOTTISH   THRONE   IN    1290. 

David  I.,  1 1153. 

I 
Henry. 

^_l 

Malcolm  IV.,  t  1165.      William  the  Lion,  f  1214.        David,  1 1219. 

I  I 1 ! 

Alexander  II.,  t  1249.  Margaret      Isabella        Ada;//. 

;«.  Allan  of    m.  Bruce  of    Hastings. 
Galloway.     Annandale. 

I  I 

Alexander  III.,  t  1285.  |  I  ' 

Devorgild       Marjory.  Robert         Henry 


W.John  Balliol. 


Bruce.  Hastings. 


Alexander,  t  128-5.     \  \  I  x,  t  u    n 

Eric  m.  Margaret  John  Balliol,  Marjory  m.  Comyn     Bruce,       John  Has 
of  Norway  I  t  1281.  I  the      Earl  of  Carrick.   tings. 

, ^'  ,  I  Black.  I 

Margaret,  "  Maid  of       Edward  Balliol.  The  Red  Comyn,  The  Bruce,  f  1329. 

Norway,"!  1290.  Be-  killed  by  Bruce  I 

trothed    to    son    of  in  1306.  | 

Edward  I.    On  her  |  | 

death  line  extinct  David,  t  1370.      Marjory  m.  W.  Stuart 

Robert  II. 


58  THE  FIRST  TWO   EDWARDS.  [1298 

to  the  Scottish  throne  through  their  mothers.  Balliol 
agreed  to  hold  his  kingdom  as  a  gift  from  the  Eng- 
lish king.  But  this  made  him  and  his  son  unpopu- 
lar in  Scotland,  and  so,  after  his  father's  death,  the 
younger  Balliol  made  an  alliance  with  the  French 
king.  He  soon  found  himself  a  prisoner  in  London 
Tower. 

Edward  now  determined  to  govern  Scotland  as  if  it 
were  his  own  kingdom.  To  show  his  right  to  that 
stone  of  throne,  he  carried  to  London  the  Stone  of 
Scone.  Scone,  on  which  the  Scottish  kings  had  been 
crowned.  There  he  had  a  chair  built  around  it,  and 
upon  it  every  king  of  England  has  been  crowned  from 
that  day  to  this. 

Now,  the  Scots  did  not  at  all  like  losing  their  inde- 
pendence. As  soon  as  Edward  got  into  trouble  with 
France,   they  rebelled.       Their    leader   was    an 

Sir 

William  outlawed  knight  called  Sir  William  Wallace. 
He  was  so  very  cruel  to  the  English  who  came 
in  his  way  that  the  great  Scottish  writer.  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  wrote  of  him,  "  He  left  nothing  behind  but  blood 
and  ashes  "  in  his  path  along  the  English  border.  His 
success  was  but  short-lived,  for  the  very  next  year 
Falkirk  Edward  went  to  Scotland  with  an  army.  He 
(1298).  found  Wallace  and  his  followers  at  Falkirk, 
and  utterly  destroyed  them.  Wallace  himself  was 
taken  to  London,  and  killed  with  all  the  dreadful 
cruelties  that  the  law  then  visited  on  outlaws.  This 
was  in  1305 ;  and,  although  Wallace  had  been  so  cruel, 
he  soon  became  the  national  hero  of  Scotland. 

But  troubles  did  not  cease  in  Scotland ;  for  the 
Bruce  very  next  year  Robert  Bruce,  the  grandson  of 
Comyn.    BalHol's  rival,  met  Comyn,  who  was  after  Balliol 


1295J  THE   FIRST   PERFECT   PARLIAMENT.  59 

the  next  heir  to  the  Scottish  crown,  in  a  little  church 
in  Dumfries,  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart.  Bruce 
then  declared  himself  the  true  king  of  Scotland.  King 
Edward  was  greatly  enraged  at  this  foul  murder.  His 
soldiers  hunted  Bruce  from  place  to  place,  but  they 
could  not  seize  him;  and  while  journeying  north 
to  take  command  of  his  army,  Edward  died,  dies 
within  sight  of  the  Scottish  border.  '^°^  * 

These  wars,  however,  were  the  least  important  events 
of   Edward's  reign.      The  most  important  thing  was 
that  it  took  a  great  deal  of  money  to  carry  them   The 
on;    and    this  money  the   king  could  not    get   perfect 
without  agreeing  to  certain  laws  which  have  in-    ^^^^[^' 
fluenced  the  history  of  England  ever  since.     It   (1295). 
was  in  1295,  just  before  the  invasion  of  Scotland,  that 
Edward  held  his  first  parliament.      As  he  needed  the 
support  of  all  his  subjects,  he  took  Simon  of  Montfort's 
Parliament  for  a  model.     The  assembly  of  1295  was  the 
first  legal  Parliament  in  which  the  people  of  England 
were  really  represented,  and  therefore  the  great  his- 
torian of  the  English  people,  John  Richard  Green,  has 
called  its  assembling  "the  most    important   event  in 
English  history."     Let  us  stop  a  moment  and  see  who 
came  to  it. 

In  the  first  place,  there  were  the  great  barons  and 
churchmen.  They  were  the  king's  greater  feudal 
vassals,  and  came  in  person.  There  were  too  itscom- 
many  smaller  landowners  to  admit  of  their  p°*'**'^"' 
coming  in  person,  so  the  sheriff  of  each  county  held 
an  election  for  two  knights  to  represent  all  the  land- 
owners of  that  county.  These  were  called  knights  of 
the  shire.  Next  came  two  citizens  from  each  city, 
and   two   burghers,    or   burgesses,    from   each   burgh, 


6o  'A'HE   FIRST   TWO   EDWARDS-  [1297 

borough,  or  large  town.  These  last  two  classes  repre- 
sented the  merchants  and  mechanics  of  the  cities  and 
boroughs. 

But  the  greatest  law  of  all  was  the  Confirmation  of 
the  Charters,  which  Roger  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk, 
Q^j^f^j._  and  Humphrey  Bohun,  Earl  of  Hereford,  ex- 
mation     tortcd    froni  the  kino-.      It  seems  that    Edward 

of  the  ° 

Charters  was  afraid  of  the  power  of  these  two  men,  and 
^^^'^  *  he  ordered  them  to  lead  an  army  into  southern 
France.  They  refused.  In  a  rage  the  king  exclaimed 
to  Bigod,  "Sir  Earl,  you  shall  either  go  or  hang!" 
"Sir  King,"  the  Earl  Marshal  replied,  "I  will  neither 
go  nor  hang."  The  king  then  laid  a  tax  upon  wool, 
and  sailed  for  Flanders.  The  two  earls  forbade  the 
collection  of  the  tax.  The  Londoners,  and  even  the 
churchmen,  joined  them.  The  king  was  helpless.  At 
Ghent  he  confirmed  the  charters;  and  later  on  he 
promised  that  he  would  not  lay  a  new  tax  without  the 
common  consent  of  the  nation. 

Edward  of  Caernarvon,   known  as"  Edward  II.,  was 
the  first  Prince  of  Wales  to  become  king  of  England. 
He  was  also   the  first    kinfc  to    date   his   rei":n 


Edward 


^    ^^     ^^.^     .....     .^.^• 


\[\oy~  from  the  day  of  his  father's  death.  This  may 
1327)-  seem  to  be  a  very  small  thing  in  itself,  but  it 
showed  that  the  old  custom  of  waiting  to  elect  a  new 
king  was  being  forgotten.  Yet  even  at  the  present 
time  the  form  of  election  is  kept  up  at  the  coronation. 
The  new  Edward  was  very  unlike  his  father.  For  one 
thing,  he  was  too  fond  of  foreigners.  Especially  was 
this  true  of  a  certain  Piers,  or  Pierce,  Gaveston,  who 
had  a  very  bad  influence  upon  him.  For  one  thing, 
Gaveston  was  all  the  time  making  fun  of  the  barons, 
and  calling  them  nicknames;  and  this  trick  led  at  last 


IJ27.J  THE  DESPENSERS.  6l 

to  his  death.      Headed  by  the  Earl  of  Lancaster,  the 
king's  uncle,  the  barons  captured  Gaveston  and  exe- 
cuted him.      The  execution,  however,  was  due  Gaveston 
mainly  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  whom  Gaveston  ['^",^2''^ 
had  called  "The  Black  Dog." 

While  all  this  was  going  on  in  England,  Bruce  was 
not  idle  in  Scotland.  On  the  contrary,  he  overran  the 
greater  part  of  that  country.  In  13 14  Edward  Bruce  in 
marched  to  the  relief  of  Stirling  Castle.  He  Scotland, 
had  with  him  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  men;  but 
Bruce,  with  scarcely  thirty  thousand,  met  him  on  the 
banks  of  a  little  brook,  or  burn,  the  Bannockburn, 
not  far  from  Stirlino^  Castle,  and  defeated  him  „ 

^  Bannock- 

utterly.      It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  bum 
Edward  escaped,  and  from  this  time  Scotland 
was  lost  to  the  English. 

The  Irish,   too,  thought  that  this  would  be  a  good 
time  to  assert  their  independence.      But  the  Norman- 
English  nobles  living  in  Ireland  were  too  strong   The 
for  their  wild  Irish  neighbors,  and  the  rebellion    ^"^^' 
ended    in    nothing   but    increased    suffering    for   the 
conquered   Irish. 

One  would  have  thought  that  the  fate  of  Gaveston 
would  have  been  a  warning  to  the  king.  But  it  was 
not  long  before  he  had  more  favorites.  This  The  De- 
time  they  were  named  Despenser,  or  Spenser,  ^p^"'*^'"*- 
father  and  son.  The  barons  again  rebelled.  But 
this  time  they  did  not  have  it  all  their  own  way,  and 
the  Earl  of  Lancaster  was  taken  by  the  king  and 
hanged.  It  happened  that  the  queen,  who  was  a 
Frenchwoman,  cared  more  for  an  earl  named  Mortimer 
than  she  did  for  the  king.  So  she  hired  some  soldiers 
in  France,  and  brought  them  over  to  England.     The 


62  THE  FIRST  TWO  EDWARDS.  [1327. 

king  and  his  favorite  tried  to  run  away,  but  they 
The  king  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  barons'  hands.  The  Despensers 
mur-  were  hanged,  and  Edward,  after  being  deposed 
(1327).  by  Parliament,  was  cruelly  beaten  to  death,  at 
the  order,  it  is  supposed,  of  Mortimer. 


GROUP   OF   ARMED    KNIGHTS     ABOUT    I3OO. 


QUESTIONS.  63 


OUTLINE. 

Edward  I.  conquers  Wales  and  makes  his  son  Prince  of  Wales. 
Balliol  and  Bruce  claim  the  Scottish  throne.  Edward  interferes 
and  defeats  the  Scots.  Sir  William  Wallace :  his  cruelty  and 
death.  This  war  cost  so  much  money-tliat  Edward  called  a  Par- 
liament and  confirmed  the  charters.  Edward  II.  :  his  favorites, 
his  defeat  at  Bannockburn  and  his  murder. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Tell  the  story  of  the  conquest  of  Wales. 

2.  Which  had  the  better  right  to  the  Scottish  throne,  Balliol  or 
Bruce  ? 

3.  Who  came  to  the  first  legal  parliament.? 

4.  How  was  Edward  compelled  to  confirm  the  charters? 

TOPICS. 

The  story  of  Sir  William  Wallace,  Henty's  In  Freedom's  Cause ; 
Lanier's  Do/s  Froissart.  The  Battle  of  Bannockburn,  Burns's 
Bannockburn. 


64  EDWARD  III.  [1327. 


CHAPTER  XL 

EDWARD    III. 

1327-1377- 

KING  Edward  the  Third  was  only  fourteen  years 
old  at  this  time,  and  a  council  of  regency  was 
appointed  to  rule  in  his  name.  But  Mortimer  and  the 
queen  really  possessed  all  the  power,  and  they  used  it 

very  ill.  Suddenly,  in  1330,  the  young  king  ar- 
mer        rested  Mortimer,  and  took  the   control  of  affairs 

into  his  own  hands.  Not  long  after,  Mortimer 
was  hanged,  and  the  queen  was  kept  a  close  prisoner 
for  the  rest  of  her  life. 

Of  course  during  these  disturbances  the  Scots  had 
not  been  idle.  They  had  actually  invaded  England, 
Haiidon  ^ud  had  returned  to  Scotland  only  when  Bruce 
^'^^'  was  acknowledged  as  the  rightful  king  of  Scot- 
land by  the  English  Government.  But  the  peace  thus 
bought  did  not  last  long,  and  in  1333  the  Scottish 
army  was  totally  overthrown  at  the  battle  of  Haiidon 
Hill.  Nothing  was  really  decided  by  this  battle,  for 
the  Scots  were  far  from  being  subdued.  But  the  vic- 
tory put  new  heart  into  Englishmen,  and  gave  them 
more  confidence  in  themselves.  And  they  were  soon 
to  need  all  the  confidence  such  a  victory  could  inspire. 

During  all  this  time  the  English  had  retained  pos- 
session of  a  few  domains  in  southwestern  Erance,  and 
this  had  been  a  constant  source  of  dispute  between 


EDWARD   m. 


6S 


66  EDWARD   III.  [132S 

the  kings  of  England  and  France.  It  seemed  to  the 
French  king  at  this  time  that  he  might  compel  Edward 
Cause  of  to  do  what  he  wished  by  interfering  in  Scotland, 
the^wars  g^j^^j-jj^  q(  course,  rcscntcd  this,  and  Philip  of 
France.  France  seized  some  of  the  English  possessions 
in  France.  To  make  his  cause  seem  more  just,  Edward 
laid  claim  to  the  French  throne  in  right  of  his  mother. 
There  was  a  law  in  France,  called  the  Salic  law,  which 
prevented  a  woman  from  either  ruling  herself  or  trans- 
mitting any  rights  to  the  crown  to  her  descendants. 
Now,  the  descent  of  the  French  crown  was  regulated 
by  French  law,  and  Edward's  claim  was  very  weak 
in  other  ways.  Edward  probably  never  regarded  it  as 
good  for  much ;  but  he  thought  that  Frenchmen,  being 
discontented  with  the  ruling  king,  would  be  more 
likely  to  fight  on  his  side  if  he  called  himself  king  of 
France,  and  in  this  he  was  right.  The  motto  which 
he  adopted  at  this  time,  —  "Dieu  et  mon  droit,"  —  is 
still  retained,  though  the  title  of  king  of  France  was 
dropped  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago  by  the  English 
kings. 

At  first  it  was  very  hard  to  get  money  to  pay  the 
soldiers;  but  after  a  while,  as  one  victory  after  another 


SUCCESSION  TO   THE   FRENCH   CROWN,    1328. 
[The  dates  are  those  of  the  kings'  deaths.] 

Philip  III.,  1270. 

\ 

Philip  IV.,  1285.  Charles  of  Valois 

Louis  X.,    Philip  V.,    Charles  IV.,    Isabellas.  Edward  II.  of      Philip  VI., 
1314.  1316.  1322.  I      England.  1328. 

Joan  of  Edward  III.  of 

Navarre.  England. 


I340.]  CRESSY.  e*J 

was  won,  the  war  became  self-supporting.  The  first 
great  success  was  on  the  water.  In  the  year  1340, 
Edward    and    his    EngHsh     sailors    defeated    a  ^    ,  , 

^  Sea-nglit 

French  fleet  in  the  harbor  of  Sluys.  So  great  at  siuys 
was  the  slaughter  that  no  one  seemed  willing  to  "^^  ' 
tell  King  Philip  of  France  of  the  disaster.  Finally, 
the  court  jester,  or  fool,  cried  out :  "  What  cowards 
those  English  are!  They  had  not  the  courage  all  to 
jump  overboard,  as  the  French  did."  This  victory 
broke  the  naval  power  of  France,  and  for  a  whole 
generation  the  English  could  sail  up  and  down  the 
Channel  without  fear  of  attack. 

For  five  years  there  was  no  serious  fighting;  but  in 
1345  the  war  began  again.  The  English  in  southern 
France  were  soon  hard  pressed.  Edward  thought  he 
could  best  relieve  them  by  invading  Normandy.  So 
he  landed  with  an  army  at  La  Hogue,  and  attempted 
to  march  across  the  country  to  Flanders.  The  bridges 
over  the  Seine  were  broken,  and  it  was  some  time 
before  he  could  get  across.  Finally,  however,  he  out- 
witted the  French,  and  crossed  the  river  not  far  from 
Paris.  Then,  passing  the  Somme,  near  its  mouth,  when 
the  tide  was  low,  he  drew  up  his  men  on  the  hill  cressy 
of  Cressy,  or  Crecy.  The  French  army  was  sev-  ('346)- 
eral  times  larger  than  that  of  the  English;  but  Edward 
had  with  him  only  trained  soldiers,  whose  sole  busi- 
ness was  to  fight,  while  Philip's  force,  on  the  contrary, 
was  a  feudal  army  of  the  old  pattern,  being  composed 
of  knights  and  gentlemen,  clad  in  suits  of  heavy  iron 
armor,  and  a  mass  of  poorly  armed  and  entirely  un- 
trained peasants.  It  was  a  mob  rather  than  an  army. 
When  the  two  armies  came  together,  the  English  bow- 
men shot  tl^ejr  arrows  so  accurately  and  well  that  the 


68  EDWARD   III.  [1346. 

French  knights  and  cross-bowmen  were  thrown  into 
utter  disorder;  and  to  add  to  the  confusion  some  can- 
non, then  used  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  European 
wars,  so  frightened  the  French  horses  that  there  was 
no  controlling  them.  When  the  sun  went  down, 
Edward  was  master  of  the  field,  and  soon  after  marched 
in  peace  to  Calais,  and  began  the  siege  of  that  town. 

While  the  king  was  thus  occupied  in  France,  the 
Scots  were  doing  their  best  to  annoy  him  in  England. 
But  the  men  of  the  northern  counties,  inspired  by  the 
brave  words  of  Queen  PhiHppa,  won  the  battle  of  Nevil's 
Cross,  and  left  Edward  free  to  carry  on  the  French 
war.  The  siege  of  Calais  lasted  a  whole  year. 
Siege  of  At  last,  however,  when  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Calais,  town  had  eaten  everything  that  could  be  eaten 
in  the  town,  they  were  obliged  to  surrender.  Six  of 
the  principal  citizens,  with  halters  around  their  necks, 
marched  into  the  English  camp.  Edward,  when  they 
came  before  him,  called  for  the  executioner.  But  it 
is  said  he  winked  at  the  same  moment  to  one  of  his 
courtiers.  At  all  events,  the  men  of  Calais  were  not 
killed,  though  the  common  people  were  driven  from 
their  city  homes,  which  were  given  to  English  emi- 
grants, and  for  two  hundred  years  Calais  continued  a 
flourishing  English  town. 

The  next  few  years  were  years  of  peace,  due  in  part 
to  a  truce  between  the  two  kings,  but  more  especially 
The  to  a  fearful  disease  called  the  Black  Death, 
Death  which  appeared  in  England  in  1349.  It  is  sup- 
(1349)-  posed  that  from  one-third  to  one-half  of  the  pop- 
ulation was  swept  away.  In  some  parts  of  the  island 
whole  districts  were  left  without  people.  One  half  of 
the  priests   of  Yorkshire  died  at  this  time,  and  the 


r376.]  PEACE  OF  BRETIGNY.  69 

Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York  were  killed  by 
this  scourge.  A  similar  disease  attacked  the  cattle; 
and  this,  with  the  scarcity  of  farm  laborers,  threatened 
a  famine.     At  such  a  time  war  was  hardly  possible. 

Indeed,  it  was  not  until  1355  that  the  war  was  begun 
again  in  earnest.  The  next  year  Edward's  eldest  son, 
the  Black  Prince,  as  people  called  him,  from  the  Poitiers 
color  of  the  armor  which  he  had  worn  at  Cressy,  ('^s^)- 
marched  into  the  heart  of  southern  France.  At  length 
the  French  closed  in  upon  him;  but  he  posted  his  men 
with  such  skill  among  the  vineyards  of  Poitiers  that 
the  French  were  beaten  off  with  terrible  slaughter. 
Even  King  John  of  France  was  captured  and  taken  to 
London,  where  he  found  King  David  of  Scotland,  who 
had  been  captured  years  before  at  Nevil's  Cross. 

The  war  dragged  on  a  few  years  longer,  but  in  1360 
a  treaty  was  made  at  Bretigny.  By  this  treaty  Edward 
was  to  keep  the  southern  provinces  as  an  inde- 
pendent king.  On  his  part  he  was  to  give  up  Bretigny 
his  claim  to  the  French  throne,  and  to  release  °  ' 
King  John  on  payment  of  a  large  ransom.  Now,  it  is 
often  much  easier  to  make  a  treaty  than  to  carry  out 
its  provisions,  and  so  it  proved  in  this  case.  Edward 
never  gave  up  his  title  of  King  of  France,  and  many 
of  the  barons  in  southern  France  refused  to  become 
his  subjects.  So  the  war  broke  out  again,  and  dragged 
on  for  many  years.  In  the  end  the  English  lost  nearly 
all  their  French  conquests,  owing  mainly  to  the  cruelty 
and  bad  policy  of  the  Black  Prince.  He  never  lived 
to  be  king,  as  he  died  in  1376,  one  year  before  his 
father's  death. 

We  must  now  turn  to  England  itself,  and  see  what 
had  been  accomplished  during  all  these  years  in  the 


JO 


EDWARD  III. 


[1333 


•      TOMB    OF  EDWARD   III.    IN   WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

way  of  better  government.  Despotic  as  Edward  was, 
he  had  been  led  into  many  reforms  by  the  necessity 
of  raising  large  sums  of  money,  and  of  securing  an^ 
keeping    the    good-will    of    the    English    nobles    anc) 


13331    PAR-LIAMENT  SEPARATES   INTO  TWO  HOUSES.      y\ 

the  wealthier  classes.  For  this  reason  we  find  the 
power  of  Parliament  increase  step  by  step.  About 
1332  the  knights  of  the  shire  (as  the  representatives  of 
the  lesser  landowners  were  called)  and  the  burgesses 
(as  those  who  were  elected  by  the  people  of  p^j.j;^_ 
the  towns  and  borou^^hs  were  termed)  separated  "^^nt 

^  separates 

themselves  from  the  great  lords  and  bishops,  into  two 
and  sat  apart  as  the  House  of  Commons;  the 
others  forming  the  upper  house,  or  House  of  Peers. 
This  division  into  two  houses  without  any  sharp  divid- 
ing line  between  them,  and  with  two  classes  of  men 
sitting  in  each  house,  is  of  great  importance  in  English 
history.  In  the  first  place  the  king  was  never  able  to 
play  off  one  class  against  another,  as  would  have  been 
easy  if  the  four  orders  had  sat  each  by  itself,  or  if  they 
had  all  sat  and  voted  together.  In  the  next  place, 
as  time  went  on,  it  became  common  for  members  of 
the  great  baronial  families  to  sit  in  the  lower  house 
side  by  side  with  the  representatives  of  the  merchants 
of  the  towns.  In  this  way  they  became  accustomed  to 
the  ideas  of  the  middle  class,  and  never  formed  such 
an  exclusive  caste  as  the  nobles  did  in  the  countries  of 
the  Continent. 

Now,  at  this  time  the  popes  did  not  live  at  Rome, 
for  since  the  early  part  of  the  century  they  had  resided 
at  Avignon,  in  southern  France.  The  Pope  thus  came 
completely  under  the  control  of  the  French  king,  and 
was  therefore  regarded  with  suspicion  and  dislike  by 
the  English  people,  as  being  a  kind  of  Frenchman,  and 
therefore  their  enemy.  So  strong  did  this  feeling 
become  that  Parliament  passed  two  laws,  forbidding 
any  one  from  taking  a  church  office  from  the  Pope,  and 
bringing   suits    in    his   court.     This    latter   was    called 


72 


EDWARD   111. 


■tIg;^!        > 


1333]  WYCLIFFE.  73 

the  Statute  of  Praemunire,  from  words  in  the  writ  by 
which  it  was  enforced.     The  penalty  for  disobey- 
ing this  statute,  or  law,  was  forfeiture  of  prop-   ofPrae- 

...  1-11  r   niunire. 

erty   and   imprisonment   during  the  pleasure  of 
the  king.     Another  thing  which   showed  the  growing 
dislike  to  the  Pope  was  the  rise  of  the  people  called 
Lollards. 

Exactly  what  **  Lollard  "  means  is  not  clear ;  but  it 
probably  signified  an  idle  babbler.  These  Lollards 
thought  that  the  bishops  and  the  clergy  gener-xhe 
ally  lived  too  easy  and  luxurious  lives,  and  gave  ^^''^''^s- 
too  little  attention  to  their  real  work,  which  should  be 
the  care  of  men's  souls  and  deeds  of  charity.  The 
leader  and  the  founder  of  this  sect  was  John  jo^n 
Wycliffe,  one  of  the  great  scholars  and  teachers  ^^'>'cJ'ffe- 
of  his  time.  Wycliffe  gathered  around  him  a  band  of 
earnest  men,  who  went  through  the  country  preaching 
to  the  poor,  and  by  their  example  teaching  men  to  live 
upright  and  pure  lives.  Before  this  time  the  Bible 
was  only  to  be  found  in  Latin  or  some  other  learned 
language.  Copies  of  it  were  quite  rare,  and  only  the 
upper  clergy  could  read  it.  Wycliffe  thought  that  the 
Bible  should  be  the  common  property  of  all  English- 
men, and  he  translated  the  New  Testament  into  simple 
English.  Of  course  it  was  still  a  rare  book,  as  print- 
ing had  not  then  been  introduced  into  England. 

The  dreadful  Black  Death,  too,  had  caused  great 
discontent,  and  had  some  serious  consequences.  The 
king  had  allowed  the  great  barons  to  pay  him  a  sum  of 
money  instead  of  doing  the  personal  service  which  the 
feudal  system  required,  and  in  the  same  way  the  land- 
owners had  allowed  their  serfs,  or  villeins,  to  pay  a 
small  sum  of  money  instead  of  performing  the  personal 


74  EDWARD  III.  1.1376. 

service  (such  as  two  or  three  days'  work  every  week 
on  the  lord's  farm)  which  their  obligations  required. 
The  conditions  of  this  money  payment  were  written 
down  on  the  records  of  the  estate,  which  was  the  only 
record  that  was  made.  Thus  he  became  a  ''  copy- 
holder,"   and    his    holding,    or    farm,    became    a 

Copy-  . 

hold  *'  copyhold  ;  "  and  this  form  of  landholding  was 
called  *'  copyhold  tenure."  Now,  the  Black 
Death,  by  killing  so  many  laborers,  made  it  very  diffi- 
cult for  the  lord  to  hire  men  to  do  his  work.  And  so 
he  tried  to  make  his  serfs  perform  their  work  in  person, 
as  they  formerly  had  done,  instead  of  paying  money. 
Of  course  this  caused  great  opposition.  The  Parlia- 
ment, too,  as  it  was  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the  land- 
statute  of  owners,  tried  to  keep  wages  down  by  passing  a 
Laborers,  j^^  called  the  Statute  of  Laborers.  This  law 
forbade  laborers  to  receive  higher  wages  than  they  had 
earned  before  the  Black  Death.  As  the  prices  of  bread 
and  all  the  necessaries  of  life  had  risen,  this  resulted 
in  great  hardships,  the  outcome  of  which  we  shall 
soon  see. 

OUTLINE. 

Edward  III.  defeats  the  Scots  at  Halidon  Hill.  He  then  lays 
claim  to  the  French  throne  by  right  of  his  descent  from  his  mother 
Isabella.  He  goes  to  war  with  France,  wins  the  battles  of  Sluys 
and  Cressy,  and  captures  Calais.  Some  years  later,  his  son,  the 
Black  Prince,  wins  the  battle  of  Poitiers.  The  Scots  invade 
England  and  are  defeated.  The  Black  Death.  Separation  of 
Parliament  into  two  houses.  The  Law  of  Praemunire.  Religious 
reforms.     John  Wycliffe.     The  Statute  of  Laborers. 

QUESTIONS 

I.  What  claim  had  Edward  to  the  French  crown?  What  was 
the  Salic  Law? 


QUESTIONS. 


75 


2.  Why  were  the  French  defeated  at  Cressy  ?  at  Poitiers  ? 

3.  Why  was  the  separation  of  Parliament  into  two  houses  im- 
portant ?  What  classes  were  represented  in  the  House  of 
Commons  ? 

4.  Who  were  the  Lollards  ?     What  was  Wycliffe's  work  ? 

5.  Define  "  penalties  of  praemunire,"  "  copyholder,"  "  Statute  of 
Laborers." 

TOPICS. 

The  Battle  of  Cressy :  the  siege  of  Calais  ;  the  Battle  of  Poitiers. 
Lanier's  The  Boy^s  Froissart, 


ROYAL  ARMS   OF   ENGLAND   FROM    RICHARD    L   TO    EDWARD    III 


76  RICHARD  II.  [1377. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

RICHARD   II. 
1377-1387- 

THE  Black  Prince's  son  Richard,  a  lad  of  eleven 
years,  succeeded  to  his  grandfather's  throne,  the 
government  being  carried  on  by  some  one  else,  called 
a  regent.  It  was  a  bad  time  for  such  an  experiment, 
The  for  on  every  side  there  was  discontent.  There 
Revdf  ^'  were  large  debts  remaining  from  Edward's  time, 
(1381).  and  these  were  soon  increased  by  the  expense 
of  stopping  a  threatened  French  invasion.  Parliament 
tried  to  raise  money  in  various  ways.  Finally,  it  hit 
upon  a  scheme  called  a  poll-tax.  It  was  called  a  poll- 
tax  because  it  was  a  tax  of  so  much  per  head,  or  poll. 
A  poll-tax  is  not  bad  in  itself,  but  it  was  arranged  a1 
that  time  so  as  to  fall  most  heavily  on  the  poorei 
classes.  It  could  not  be  collected.  Finally,  a  man 
was  found  who  promised  to  collect  it  if  the  judges 
should  be  ordered  to  help  him.  This  was  done,  and 
collectors  went  through  the  country  compelling  people 
to  pay,  under  the  most  fearful  threats  in  case  they  re- 
fused. At  last  one  of  these  collectors  insulted  a 
daughter  of  a  Kentish  blacksmith  named  Walter,  and 
called  from  his  trade  Wat  the  Tyler,  or  simply  Wat 
Tyler.  Before  the  collector  could  escape,  Wat  the 
Tyler  dashed  hi§  brains  out  with  his  hammer;  and  then, 


i38i.] 


THE  PEASANTS    REVOLT. 


77 


putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  peasants  of  Kent, 
marched  towards  London.  Men  flocked  to  his  standard 
from  all  sides.  Among  the  rest  there  was  a  man  who 
called    himself  Jack  Straw,  and  who  led   the   peasants 


PLOUGHING. 

of  Essex.     Then,  too,  a  priest,  named  John  Ball,  went 
with  them,  preaching  from  the  text,  — 

"  When  Adam  delved,  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  t " 

Sixty  thousand  strong,  they  reached    London,  killed 
the  archbishop  and  all  the  lawyers  they  could  find,  and 


HARROWING.      A   BOY   SLINGING   STONES. 


burned  the  houses  of  those  whom  they  hated.       At 
last  Wat  the  Tyler  was  himself  killed ;  and,  deprived 


78  RICHARD  II.  [1387. 

of  their  leader,  the  rebels  dispersed.  While  he  was 
in  their  power  the  king  had  made  great  promises 
to  these  people,  all  of  which  he  now  broke.  And 
the  Parliament,  too,  passed  laws  tending  to  keep 
the  lower  classes  forever  in  the  condition  of  serfs; 
but  they  were  never  carried  out,  as  no  one  feared 
another  peasant  revolt  more  than  did  these  same 
landowners.      Indeed,  it  is  from  this  time  that  the  rise 


of  the  class  of  independent  farmers  called  "yeomen" 
dates. 

The  remainder  of  Richard's  reign  was  taken  up  with 
disputes  between  his  favorites  and  the  nobles  who 
were  out  of  power.  In  1387  the  parliamentary 
tion  of  party,  led  by  Richard's  uncle,  the  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester, gained  the  upper  hand,  and  turned  the 
favorites  out,  even  executing  many  of  them.  But 
before  long  the  king  again  got  control.  For  a  time 
he  governed  well;  but  as  soon  as  he  felt  himself  strong 
enough,  he  revenged  himself  on  his  enemies.  The 
Duke  of  Gloucester  disappeared,  and  every  one  thought 
he  was  murdered,  though  it  is  now  believed  that  he 
died  from  natural  causes.  Soon  after  this  the  Duke 
of  Hereford,    Henry  of  Bolingbroke,   son  of  John  of 


1387.]  ABDICATION   OF  RICHARD.  79 

Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  was  exiled  to  France  on  a 
most  frivolous  charge.  John  of  Gaunt  felt  his  son's 
disgrace  very  keenly,  and  presently  died.  Richard, 
in  defiance  of  a  solemn  promise,  seized  his  estates. 
The  king  then  went  to  Ireland  to  try  to  restore  the 
waning  fortunes  of  the  English  in  that  island.  This 
was  the  young  Duke  of  Lancaster's  opportunity. 
Crossing  over  to  England,  he  was  everywhere  most 
gladly  received  by  the  people.  Richard,  returning  in 
haste  from  Ireland,  was  captured  and  forced  to  abdi- 
cate. Years  before,  he  had  been  warned  that  the  time 
might  come  when  the  English  people  would  rise  and 
depose  him,  and  Parliament  now  did  this  very  thing, 
on  the  ground  of  misgovernment.  Then  Henry  of 
Lancaster,  rising  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Lords, 


THE   LATER   PLANTAGENETS. 

Henry  III. 
I     (Seep.  5r.) 

Edward  I.  Edmund, 

I  Earl  of  Lancaster. 

I  I 

Edward  II.  Henry, 

I  Earl  of  Lancaster. 

I  I 

Edward  III.  Henry, 

1  Duke  of  Lancaster. 


Edward  Lionel,  John  of  Gaunt,  m.  Blanche, 

The  Black  Prince.  Duke  of  Clarence.  Duke  of  Lancaster,  I  Duchess  of  Lancaster 

I  I  I 

Richard  II.,  Philippa  w.  Earl  of  March.  Henry  Bolin^broke, 

t  1400,  S.  P.  I  Earl  of  Heref'ord,  Duke  of  Lan- 

Roger,  Earl  of  March,  caster,  King  Henry  IV. 

t  1398. 

I 1 

Edmund,  Anne, 

Earl  of  March,       ancestress  of  the 
t  1424.  Yorkist  kings. 


80  RICHARD   II.  [1387. 

claimed  the  crown  as  the  descendant  of  Henry  III.  It 
was  said  that  his  ancestor  was  the  elder  brother  of  the 
first  Edward,  and  had  been  passed  over  on  account  of 
his  humpback.  Probably  this  was  not  true.  At  all 
events,  Henry  was  elected  king  by  Parhament,  and 
took  the  title  of  Henry  IV. 

OUTLINE. 

The  debts  left  by  Edward  and  the  bad  government  of  his  son, 
Richard  II.,  lead  to  a  rising  of  the  peasants.  Abdication  of  Rich-, 
ard  and  election  of  Henry  IV.  (Duke  of  Lancaster). 

QUESTIONS. 

r.    What  relation  to  Richard  II.  was  John  of  Gaunt? 
2.    Study  the  genealogy  on  p.  81,  and  compare  the  titles  to  the 
crown  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster. 

TOPICS. 
The  Peasants'  Revolt.     Lanier's  The  Boy's  Froissart. 


300.]  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY.  8 1 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ENGLAND  IN  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 

IN  many  ways  the  fourteenth  century  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  the  English  people.  Let 
us  stop  a  moment  and  see  why  this  is  so.  In  the  first 
place,  the  fact  that  Richard  was  deposed  proved  to  be 
of  the  very  greatest  importance.  It  was  then  estab- 
lished that  the  nation  might  depose  the  king  if  it 
wished.  Years  after,  when  this  question  again  came 
up,  in  the  time  of  James  II.,  statesmen,  turning  back 
to  find  a  precedent,  relied  on  this  one.  In  the  next 
place,  the  English  common  people  were  every  day 
acquiring  more  power  and  influence  in  the  state.  We 
have  seen  how  the  Commons  began  to  sit  by  them- 
selves, and  we  have  seen  how,  in  the  rise  of  copy- 
holders, the  serfs  began  to  free  themselves  from  their 
servile  obligations.  Then,  too,  although  the  last  part 
of  this  period  was  a  time  of  almost  constant  war,  it 
was  also  a  time  of  great  extension  of  trade.  This  was 
due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  fact  that  the  king  could 
no  longer  seize  the  property  of  the  merchants  to  pay 
his  expenses,  but  was  obliged  to  get  their  consent  to 
taxes  through  their  representatives  in  the  House  of 
Commons. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  men's  ideas 
on  commerce  were  in  those  days  like  our  own.  At 
that  time  men  saw,  as  some  think  they  see  to-day,  that 


82  ENGl.>-ND   IN   THE   FOURTEENTH   CENTURY.     [1300 

as  gold  and  silver  could  be  exchanged  for  anything, 
they  formed  a  nation's  whole  wealth.  Going  one  step 
Financial  farther,  they  believed  that  a  country  would  be 
policy,  j-j^j^  according  to  the  amount  of  gold  and  silver 
actually  within  its  borders.  The  more  gold  and  silver 
England  could  draw  from  France  and  other  countries, 
the  richer  she  would  be.  The  way  to  accomplish  this 
was  to  sell  as  much  wool,  leather,  and  tin  to  foreigners, 
and  buy  as  little  from  them,  as  possible;  the  balance 
being  paid  in  gold  and  silver.  But  we  now  know  that 
gold  and  silver  are  commodities,  Hke  wool,  flax,  and 
leather,  and  that  a  nation  cannot  become  richer  by 
piling  up  within  its  borders  more  of  any  one  thing 
than  it  can  use. 

Now,  these  wars  of  Edward  the  Third  introduced 
England  to  the  outside  world,  and  gave  Englishmen 
^,  ,       an  idea  of  the  comforts  and  fashions  of  forei2:n 

Clothes.  ° 

lands.  The  effects  were  soon  seen.  Instead  of 
the  coarse,  rough  English  cloth  they  formerly  wore, 
men  now  began  to  wear  colored  clothes.  The  hose, 
which  used  to  reach  from  the  waist  to  the  foot,  were 
now  divided  at  the  knee,  and  the  upper  portion  came 
to  be  called  small-clothes.  The  most  ridiculous  things 
were  the  new-fashioned  shoes,  which  sometimes  were 
three  feet  long.  Then,  too,  rugs  and  carpets  began  to 
take  the  place  of  rushes  on  the  floors  of  the  wealthier 
classes,  and  furniture,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been 
very  poor  and  scarce,  began  to  be  more  plentiful  and 
of  much  better  quality. 

All  these  new  fashions  gave  rise  to  an  extended 
commerce,  which  the  king  encouraged  as  well  as  he 
Com-  could.  But  he  saw  with  alarm  the  wool  of 
merce.     England  exchanged  for  fine  clothes  and  carpets 


1300.] 


THE  GUILDS. 


83 


rather  than  for  gold,  and  many  attempts  were  made  to 
regulate  this  foreign  trade.  It  was  determined,  in  the 
first  place,  that  certain  towns  should  be  designated  as 
"staple  towns,"  from  the  German  word  stapel,  because 
in  them  a  fair,  or  market,  was  kept  open  the  whole 
year.  Only  in  these  places  could  wool,  leather,  lead, 
and  tin  be  sold.  At  one  time  the  laws  were  so  strict 
that  only  a  portion  of  the  price  of  English  goods  could 
be  exchanged  for  foreign  goods,  the  remainder  being 


A  GOLD   NOBLE   OF   EDWARD   IIL,   STRUCK    BETWEEN    I360  AND    I369 

paid  for  in  gold  and  silver.  At  that  time  England 
was  almost  the  only  country  where  wool  and  tin  were 
produced  in  large  quantities.  And  as  long  as  these 
laws  could  be  carried  out,  gold  and  silver  flowed  into 
England.  Gold  was  then  very  scarce,  and  silver  was 
the  principal  medium  of  exchange.  This  silver  was 
coined  into  money  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
pennies  to  each  pound  of  silver  by  weight.  Thus  we 
see  the  origin  of  the  name  "pound,"  which  is  still 
used  in  England  as  the  standard  of  value,  though  a 
pound  of  silver  would  purchase  much  more  wool  and 
leather  then  than  it  will  now. 


84   ENGLAND  IN  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY.   [1300. 


It  must  not  be  supposed  that  any  one  could  go  to 
The  a  town  where  a  fair  was  kept,  and  buy  and  sell 
guilds.  fQ^  himself;  far  from  it.  Rights  to  trade  and  to 
manufacture  were  then  granted  to  certain  persons  or 
sets  of  persons,  either  for  money  or  as  favors.  Some- 
times the  merchants  of  one 
town  would  combine  into 
one  trade-society,  or  guild ; 
but  more  often  there  were 
several  guilds  in  each  town, 
as  of  leather-dressers,  tailors, 
silversmiths,  etc.  Each  of 
these  guilds  governed  itself, 
and  took  full  charge 
of  all  goods  made 
by  its  members,  often- 
times putting  its  mark  01 
stamp,  on  the  goods  is  i 
proof  of  their  purity  uul 
goodness.  The  guilds  of 
each  town  often  had  a  share 
in  its  government,  and  the 
guildhall  often  answers  very 
well  to  our  town-hall.  At 
this  time,  however,  the  be- 
ginning of  the  end  of  the 
guild  system  could  be  seen, 
of  a  free  laboring  class,  who  worked  by  the  day.  They 
were  hence  called  "journeymen,"  from  the  French  word 
jour,  ox  jour  nee  y  a  day.  These  and  other  laborers  flocked 
to  the  towns  in  great  numbers,  largely  because  of  the 
privileges  enjoyed  by  those  living  in  towns;  and  their 
presence  in  the  end  gave  a  severe  blow  to  the  exclusive 
system  of  the  guilds. 


PORTRAIT  OF  GEOFFREY  CHAUCER. 


This  was  due  to  the  rise 


QUESTIONS.  85 

This  century  also  marks  the  rise  of  the  EngHsh 
language  as  we  now  know  it.  This  was  the  time  of 
Geoffrey  Chaucer,  the  first  great  English  poet,  Rise 
and  of  Wycliffe,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  jl^ '^f^.}^ 
father  of  English  prose.  English  was  also  used  ^a'^gi'^ge. 
in  the  courts,  and  took  the  place  of  Erench  as  the 
language  of  the  upper  classes. 

OUTLINE. 

Great  extension  of  English  trade.  Fourteenth-century  ideas  on 
money  and  wealth.  The  guilds  and  the  free  laborers.  Chaucer 
and  Wycliffe. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  changes  in  dress  and  in  house  furniture. 

2.  Read  something  about  Chaucer,  and  tell  what  he  wrote. 


86  THE  FIRST  LANCASTRIAN  KINGS.  [1399. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE   FIRST   TWO    LANCASTRIAN    KINGS. 

NEXT  to  Richard,  the  rightful  heir  to  the  throne 
was  Edmund  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  since  he 
was  descended  from  the  second  son  of  Edward  III. 
Henry  was  really  a  usurper,  and  ruled  merely  as  being 
Henry  the  king  elected  by  Parliament.  He  was  thus 
(XoQ-  obliged  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  Parlia- 
1413)-  ment,  and  also  with  the  Church.  To  please 
the  Church  he  assented  to  an  Act  against  heresy. 
Under  this  law  a  man  once  declared  to  be  a  heretic 
by  the  Church  was  handed  over  to  the  civil  govern- 
ment for  execution.  This  was  commonly  by  fire ;  and 
the  first  Englishman  burned  as  a  heretic  was  William 
Sawtre. 

Henry  was   obliged   to   consent    to   the   demands   of 

Parliament.     In  this  way  the  Commons  obliged  him  to 

,    have  the   money  voted  by  them  accounted   for. 

Rise  of  ^  /  . 

tiie  com-  The  Commons  also  obtained  the  right  to  origi- 

moners.  ,,    ,  .  1      1         1  • 

nate  ail  laws  grantmg  money,  and  the  kmg  was 
even  forced  to  allow  perfect  freedom  of  debate  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament.  Henry  made  these  concessions 
in  order  to  secure  the  support  of  the  people  in  main- 
taining himself  on  the  throne. 

In  1399  there  was  a  sudden  rebellion  of  the  great 
lords  friendly  to  the  Earl  of  March.  But  as  Henry, 
with  a  force   of  Londoners,  was  driving   them  to  the 


14  f  3-]  HENRY  V.  8/ 

West,  the  people  of  Cirencester,  led  by  their   mayor, 

surrounded  and  captured  them,  and    executed  several 

before    the    king   arrived.     The   same    year  wit-    j^^]^i_ 

nesscd  Richard's  death ;   thoucfh  whether  he  was    ^'o" 

(1399). 

murdered  or  not,  no  one  really  knows.     Events 
now  rapidly  turned  in  Henry's  favor,  and  by   1400  he 
was  secure  on  his  throne. 

Henry's  last  years  were  not  happy.  A  dreadful 
disease  tormented  him,  and  it  seemed  as  though  his 
eldest  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  wished  to  be  king 
before  his  time.  At  least  that  is  the  story;  and  the 
old  king  was  so  jealous  of  his  son  that  he  had  him 
removed  from  the  council.     In  141 3  Henry  IV.  died. 

One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  this  time  was  what  was 
called  the  "  right  of  maintenance."  The  great  lords 
were  accustomed  to  have  in  their  service  large  Mainte- 
bodies  of  men,  often  old  soldiers,  who  attended  "^"'^^• 
them  when  they  went  to  Parliament,  into  court,  and 
on  other  occasions.  These  men  wore  the  liveries,  or 
badges,  of  their  masters,  and  were  always  armed  and 
ready  to  fight.  It  thus  happened  that  the  great  earls 
and  dukes  had  small  regular  armies  always  at  call,  and 
it  was  this  force  of  retainers  that  formed  the  founda- 
tion of  the  armies  which  fought  in  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses. 

The  new  king  came  to  the  throne  so  quietly  that  it 
seemed  hardly  possible  he  was  the  son  of  a  usurper. 
He  had  led  a  wild  life  in  his  youth,  which  Henry 
is  described  in  Shakspere's  play  of  '*  Henry  X' 
IV. ;  "  but  when  he  ascended  the  throne  he  be-  '422). 
came  serious  and  patriotic.  There  was  great  dis- 
content in  the  country.  The  religious  reformers  called 
Lollards    especially   were    so    active    that    Henry    may 


88 


THE   FIRST    LANCASTRIAN    KINGS. 


[1415- 


EFFIGY  OF  A  KNIGHT  AT  CLEHONGER, 
SHOWING  DEVELOPMENT  OF  PLATE 
ARMOR.      DATE,  ABOUT  I460. 


have  thought  this  the  be- 
ginning of  another  Wat 
Tyler's  rebellion.  At  any 
rate,  he  took  sides  with 
the  churchmen  against  the 
Lollards,  and  forty  of  the 
reformers  were  burned  at 
the  stake  as  heretics. 

For  the  moment  the  ef- 
fort after  reform  seemed 
\  to  be  suppressed.  Still, 
it  might  break  out  again 
at  any  time,  and  Henry 
resolved  to  divert  Eng- 
Attack  on  Hshmen's  minds 
France.  from  their  own 
wants  and  grievances  by 
the  conquest  of  France, — 
as  if  causing  distress  to 
any  one  nation  would  make 
another  happier.  Apart 
from  this  motive,  which, 
after  all,  may  not  have 
been  the  true  one,  it  was 
a  good  time  to  invade 
France.  The  French  king 
was  insane,  and  his  eldest 
son,  called  the  Dauphin, 
who  ruled  during  his 
father's  madness,  quar- 
relled with  the  king's 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy. Now,  this  Duke 
of  Burgundy  was  the  most 


1420.]  AGINCOURT.  89 

powerful  man  in  France,  and  he  and  Henry  of  England, 
working  together,  soon  had  France  at  their  mercy. 

Just  as  Henry  was  about  to  leave  England,  however, 
a  plot  to  set  the  young  Earl  of  March  on  the  throne 
was   discovered.      Henry's    uncle,    the    Duke    of    .  . 

,  Agin- 

Cambridge,  and  some  of  the  king's  most  trusted  court 
advisers  were  in  the  plot.  They  were  executed, 
and  the  expedition  set  sail.  The  campaign  was  very 
much  like  that  of  Cressy.  A  great  battle  was  fought 
at  Agincourt,  —  a  battle  well  described  in  Shak- 
spere's  **  Henry  V."  The  English  were  victorious, 
and,  laden  with  booty  and  prisoners,  they  returned  to 
England. 

Two  years  later,  in  141 7,  the  invasion  was  renewed. 
This  time  the  English  advanced  as  far  as  Rouen 
unopposed.  The  Dauphin  and  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  now  made  peace,  but  the  latter  was  Troyes 
soon  after  murdered  by  order  of  the  faithless 
Dauphin.  Then  the  new  Duke  of  Burgundy  forgot 
all  love  of  country  in  a  desire  for  revenge.  At 
Troyes  he  and  Henry  made  a  treaty,  by  which  the 
English  king  agreed  to  marry  the  French  king's 
daughter  Katharine,  and  to  rule  France  during  her 
father's  life  as  regent.  After  his  death,  Henry  was 
to  be  king  of  France,  and  his  son  after  him.  The 
Dauphin  was  thus  disinherited.  All  patriotic  French- 
men gathered  round  him ;  but  at  the  time  they  could 
do  nothing  but  wait.  Two  years  later  Henry  died, 
and  was  buried  with  the  greatest  magnificence  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  Above  his  tomb  may  still  be  seen 
his  helmet  and  saddle. 

Henry  V.  should  be  remembered  not  only  as  a 
great  soldier.     He  saw  the  true  path  to  greatness  for 


90 


THE  FIRST  LANCASTRIAN  KINGS. 


[1422. 


England,  and  by  extending  commerce  in  every  pos- 
sible way  he  contributed  to  the  material  prosperity  of 
the  next  century.  He  also  increased  and  reformed  the 
English  navy,  which  has  since  risen  to  such  great 
power. 


THE  CLAIMS  OF  LANCASTER  AND  YORK. 

(From  Gardiner's  Students  History,  327.) 
Edward  IIL 


Edward  the 
Black  Prince. 

I 
Richard  II. 

(1377-1399). 


Lionel,  Duke 
of  Clarence. 

Philippa  m.  Edmund 
Mortimer, 
Earl  of 
March. 
Roger  Mortimer, 
Earl  of  March. 
I 


John  of  Gaunt 
D.  of  Lancaster. 

Henry  IV. 


Edmund,  D. 
of  York. 


(i)  Henry  V.,  (2)  John,  D.  of 

I  Bedford. 

Henry  VI.,  (3)  Thomas,  D. 

of  Clarence. 

(4)  Humphrey, 

D,  of  Gloucester. 


Edmund  Mortimer, 
Earl  of  March. 


1 

Anne  m.  Richard,  E.  of 
I       Cambridge. 
Richard,  D.  of  York. 


Edward,  E.  of  March. 
Afterwards  Edward  IV. 


QUESTIONS.  91 

OUTLINE. 

Henry  IV.  yields  to  the  Church  and  to  Parliament.  He  is  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Henry  V.,  who  attacks  France,  wins  battle  of 
Agincourt,  and  marries  Catherine. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  happened  to  heretics ?     Define  heretic. 

2.  What  other  concessions  did  Henry  make? 

3.  Why  did  Henry  V.  attack  France  ? 

TOPIC. 
Henry  V.  as  a  soldier.     Shakspere's  Henry  V, 


92  HENRY  VI.  [1422. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

HENRY    VI. 
1422-1461. 

THE  abilities  of  Henry  V.  were  so  great,  and  his 
conquests  so  splendid,  that  the  bad  policy  of  his 
French  invasion  did  not  appear  until  after  his  death. 
His  son,  an  infant  of  eleven  months,  succeeded 

Regency  '  ' 

of  Bedford  to  the  throuc,  and  during  his  minority  his 
Giouces-  uncles,  the  Dukes  of  Bedford  and  Gloucester, 
governed  for  him. 
Bedford  was  an  exceedingly  able  man,  and  for  a  time 
all  went  well.  In  1428,  however,  he  laid  siege  to 
Joan  of  Orleans.  The  English  would  probably  have 
^'■^-  taken  the  town,  had  not  a  new  foe  appeared 
in  the  most  unexpected  way.  This  was  Joan  of  Arc, 
a  peasant  girl  of  Lorraine.  She  believed  that  Michael 
the  archangel  and  other  holy  personages  had  person- 
ally ordered  her  to  go  to  the  Dauphin's  aid.  Her 
appearance  at  court  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
soldiers;  and  seeing  this,  the  counsellors  of  the 
Dauphin  gave  her  an  army,  and  told  her  to  save 
Orleans.  Now,  this  spirit  of  enthusiasm  was  what  the 
French  soldiers  most  needed.  Adversity  and  practice 
had  made  them  good  soldiers,  and  able  leaders  were 
not  lacking;  but  hitherto  they  had  fought  without 
spirit.  Joan  of  Arc  put  new  life  into  them.  She 
marched  to  Orleans,  and  attacked  the  English  first  on 
this  side,    then  on  that.      The   Englishmen  were  as 


MSo]  JACK   cade's   REBELLION.  93 

superstitious  as  the  French.  They  believed  Joan  of 
Arc  to  be  a  witch.  The  siege  was  abandoned,  and 
soon  after  the  Dauphin  was  crowned  king  of  France. 
The  next  year,  however,  Joan  of  Arc  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  English,  and  was  burned  alive.  But  the  spirit 
she  had  aroused  did  not  perish  with  her.  In  1435  the 
Duke  of  Bedford  died,  and  after  his  death  one  place 
after  another  was  lost,  till,  in  1453,  of  all  the  English 
conquests  Calais  alone  remained  in  their  hands;  and 
thus  ended  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

During  these  later  years  of  disgrace  and  failure  Wil- 
liam de  la  Pole,  Earl  of  Suffolk,  had  ruled  the  king- 
dom through  his  influence  with  the  young  king's  Earl  of 
wife,  Margaret  of  Anjou.  Upon  him  the  people  ^"^"'^• 
laid  the  responsibility  for  the  loss  of  France.  The 
king,  to  save  his  life,  banished  him  for  five  years;  but 
on  his  way  to  France  he  was  seized  and  executed. 

This  was  in  1450,  and  in  the  same  year  a  rebellion 
broke  out  in  Kent.  Led  by  Jack  Cade,  who  called 
himself  Mortimer,  the  rebels  marched  to  Lon- 

Tack 

don.  They  murdered  many  nobles  and  other  Cade's 
persons  obnoxious  to  them,  and  then  began 
plundering  London.  The  Londoners  turned  them 
out,  and  some  time  after  Jack  Cade  was  captured 
and  executed.  It  has  been  thought  that  the  king's 
cousin,  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  was  at  the  bottom  of 
this  plot. 

This  Richard  of  York  was  the  son  of  that  Duke  of 
Cambridge  who  had  plotted  against  Henry  V.   as  he 
was    setting    out    for    France.      Through    his  Rjchard 
mother  he  inherited  the  claims  of  the  Earl  of  ^f  X^'"'^^ 

claims  the 

March,  who  had  been  passed  over  when  Henry  throne. 
IV.  ascended  the  throne.     His  right  to  the  English 


94  HENRY  VL  [1455- 

crown  was  better,  therefore,  than  that  of  the  reigning 
king.  Now,  it  happened  at  this  time,  as  it  had  so 
often  happened  before,  that  the  Plantagenets  not  in 
power  opposed  those  who  were.  And  it  is  a  little 
singular  to  see  the  same  families  fighting  for  the  Duke 
of  York  as  had  fought  for  Henry  IV.  against  Richard 
II.  before  Henry  became  king.  In  other  words,  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  great  families  of  England  were 
always  in  opposition  to  the  existing  government.  The 
Lancastrians  took  for  their  badge  a  red  rose,  while  the 
Yorkists  adopted  a  white  rose;  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  the  troubles  which  followed  are  called  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses. 

If  Henry  VI.  had  been  a  strong,  able  man,  like  his 
father  and  grandfather,  these  wars  would  probably 
^,^g  never  have  occurred.  He  was  not  only  always 
Wars  of  weak  and  feeble,  but  unfortunately  was  sub- 
Roses      ject  to  fits  of  insanity.      These  attacks  gave  the 

bc£fin, 

Duke  of  York  abundant  opportunity  to  carry  out 
his  schemes.  The  two  parties  soon  came  to  blows. 
In  1455  the  Lancastrians  were  beaten,  and  the  king 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Yorkists ;  but  he  was  soon 
released.  In  1459  ^^  was  again  captured,  and  now  the 
Duke  of  York  came  forward  and  claimed  the  crown  in 
right  of  his  mother.  Finally,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
king  should  continue  to  rule  during  his  lifetime,  but 
that  at  his  death  the  crown  should  pass  to  the  Duke  of 
York  and  his  heirs. 

In  this  way  the  young  Prince  of  Wales  was  disin- 
herited. It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  queen 
Edward  would  scc  her  son  thus  treated.  Gathering  an 
Yoi-k.  army  in  the  North,  she  marched  towards  London. 
At  Wakefield  she  met  the  Yorkists  and  defeated  them. 


1461.]  FORTY-SHILLING  FREEHOLDERS.  95 

the  Duke  of  York  being  killed  during  the  battle, 
or  put  to  death  immediately  after  it.  But  his  son 
Edward,  a  lad  of  nineteen,  was  still  alive.  Getting  a 
small  army  together,  he  pushed  on  to  London,  reach- 
ing it  before  the  queen,  whose  soldiers  wasted  time 
in  plundering  by  the  way.  The  people  of  London 
declared  for  Edward,  and  he  was  proclaimed  king  at 
Westminster  as  Edward  IV.  And  thus  ended  the 
reign,  though  not  the  life,  of  Henry  VL 

The  most  important  constitutional  event  of  this 
reign  was  the  restricting  the  right  to  vote  in  counties 
for  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  those  Forty- 
who  owned  land  in  the  county  to  the  value  of  free-'"^ 
forty  shilh'ngs  a  year.  In  this  way  copyholders,  ^o'd^'^s* 
as  such,  were  deprived  of  the  right  to  vote;  and  this 
remained  the  law  until   1832. 

OUTLINE. 

Loss  of  France,  which  was  due  in  great  measure  to  Joan  of  Arc. 
Jack  Cade's  Rebellion.  Richard  of  York  claims  the  throne  and 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses  begin.  Success  of  the  Yorkists  and  end  of 
the  reign  of  Henry  VL 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  was  Joan  of  Arc  1  What  did  she  do.?  What  wa?  her 
fate  ? 

2.  Study  the  genealogy  on  p.  90,  and  explain  Richard's  claims 
to  the  crown. 

3.  Who  was  Edward  IV.  ?     How  did  he  become  king? 


96  THE  YORKIST  KINGS.  [1461. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   YORKIST   KINGS. 
1461-1485. 

THE  crown  was  scarcely  on  Edward's  head  when 
he  left  London,  and  marched  northward  to  meet 
the  Lancastrians.  He  found  them  at  Tbwton,  and 
there  overthrew  them.  He  now  felt  reasonably  secure 
Edward  on  the  throne,  and  so  he  might  have  been,  but 
(J461-  f^^  ^is  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Woodville. 
1483)-  She  was  a  beautiful  woman,  but  did  not  belong 
to  any  of  the  great  families.  The  marriage  angered  the 
Yorkist  nobles,  who  became  more  angry  when  Edward 
raised  her  father  to  the  peerage,  and  in  many  other 
ways  increased  the  importance  of  her  family.  This 
was  especially  displeasing  to  the  head  of  the  Neville 
family,  the  great  Earl  of  Warwick.  He  had  really 
placed  Edward  on  the  throne,  and  was  known  as  the 
king-maker.  Finally  he  secured  the  aid  of  the  King's 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Clarence.  Small  insurrections 
broke  out,  and  for  a  time  Warwick  even  kept  Edward 
a  prisoner;  but  in  1470  Warwick  was  forced  to  flee  to 
France.  There  he  found  Queen  Margaret,  and  chang- 
ing sides,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Lancas- 
trians, and  returned  to  England.  Edward  in  turn  was 
forced  to  fly,  and  for  a  time  Warwick  ruled  in  the 
name  of  poor  mad  Henry  VL  The  next  year,  however, 
Edward  came  back,  overthrew  Warwick  at  Barnet,  and 


-M.  tug.,  turmo 


LONGMANS,  GREEN  d  CO^  NEW  YORK 


i48o.]        MURDER  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  CLARENCE.  97 

Queen  Margaret  at  Tewkesbury,  and  once  more  ruled 
as  king.  Warwick  the  king-maker  perished  at  Bar- 
net,  the  young  Prince  of  Wales  at  Tewkesbury,  and 
only  the  old  king  remained.  And  he  too  soon  died, 
murdered,  it  was  said,  in  the  Tower  by  Edward's 
brother,   Richard  of  Gloucester. 

His  rivals  and  enemies  being  out  of  the  way,  Edward 
set  out  on  an  invasion  of  France.  He  got  some  money 
in  a  regular  way  from  Parliament,  and  raised  invades 
more  by  what  were  called  "benevolences;"  that  France, 
is,  he  summoned  the  merchants  before  him,  and  asked 
them  for  money  under  this  name.  No  one  dared  re- 
fuse, and  he  set  out  for  France.  Now,  the  king  of 
France  at  that  time  was  Louis  XL,  one  of  the  most 
crafty  men  who  ever  sat  on  the  French  or  any  other 
throne.  Seeing  Edward's  greed  for  money,  he  thought 
it  would  be  much  cheaper  and  better  to  buy  him  off 
than  to  fight  him.  Edward  was  not  unwilling,  and  in 
this  way  his  invasion  of  France  came  to  an  end. 

The  only  other  striking  event   of  his  time  is  the 
murder  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence.      Edward  had  long 
suspected  his  brother  of  treason.      He  now  for-  Murder 
mally  accused  him,  and  the  Peers  convicted  him  ^ukeof 
of  treason.     A  few  days  later  he  was  found  dead  Clarence. 
in  the  Tower,  drowned,  the  story  is,  in  a  butt  of  Malm- 
sey wine.       Not    long  after  Edward  himself  died,    a 
victim  to  intemperance.     In  some  ways  Edward  was 
not  a  bad  king.     He  preserved  order  throughout  the 
kingdom,  at  least  during  the  latter  part  of  his  reign. 
This  was  of  great  advantage  to  the  producing  classes. 
In  many  other  ways  the  king  showed  himself  the  friend 
to  commerce,  even  engaging  in  it  himself. 

Edward  the  Fourth  left  two  sons, —  Edward,  Prince  of 


98  THE  YORKIST  KINGS.  11483. 

Wales,  and  a  younger  brother  Richard,  Duke  of  York. 

Edward   was   but   thirteen  years  old,   and   he  reigned 

,   less  than  three  months.     Indeed,  he  can  scarcely 

Edward  '  -^ 

V.  be    said    to    have    reigned    at   all.     From    the 

very  first,  his  uncle  Richard,  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter, seems  to  have  determined  to  make  himself  king. 
Getting  possession  of  the  two  boys,  he  sent  them  to 
the  Tower,  which  was  then  used  as  much  for  a  palace 
as  a  prison.  He  then  made  himself  Protector,  ruling 
Richard  in  his  nephew's  name.  Next  he  got  rid  of  the 
(148^-  principal  members  of  the  queen's  party,  and  then 
1485)-  claimed  the  crown  for  himself.  On  July  6,  1483, 
he  was  crowned  at  Westminster  as  Richard  III.  ;  and 
not  long  after  the  young  King  Edward  V.  and  his 
brother  disappeared,  smothered,  it  was  said,  by  Rich- 
ard's order.  But  this,  like  other  stories  of  Richard, 
may  be  false.  Until  recent  years  almost  all  historians 
have  given  Richard  a  very  black  character.  They  have 
also  added  that  he  was  a  humpback,  and  was  very  ugly 
in  person.  We  really  know  very  little  about  him,  and 
most  that  we  do  know  is  derived  from  writers  of  the 
Tudor  period,  whose  interest  it  was  to  say  all  they  could 
against  Richard.  At  all  events,  his  reign  was  so  short 
and  troubled  that  he  had  little  chance  to  show  what- 
ever good  there  may  have  been  in  him.  It  is  now 
supposed,  however,  that  he  was  by  no  means  bad  look- 
ing, and  that  his  back  was  straight.  Very  likely  some 
of  the  other  stories  about  him  had  as  little  foundation 
as  his  hump. 

All  the  old  rivals  of  the  House  of  York  had  been 
The  killed  on  the  field  of  battle  or  murdered ;  but 
Tudors.  ^  ^Q^r  j-ival  now  appeared  in  the  person  of 
Henry  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond.     Through  his  mother 


iaSs.]  the  tudors.  99 

he  was  descended  from  John  of  Gaunt,  though  his 
family  had  been  excluded  from  the  succession;  but 
the  Beauforts,  of  course,  had  never  acknowledged  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  do  this.  The  claim  at  its  best 
was  not  good  for  much.  But  Henry  Tudor  determined 
to  win  the  throne  for  himself  if  he  could.  He  soon 
won  many  Yorkists  over  to  his  side  by  promising  to 
marry  Edward  IV. 's  daughter  Elizabeth;  but  his  early 
attempt  ended  in  failure. 

The  people  of  England,  however,  were  fast  coming 
over  to  Henry's  side;  for  Richard  had  raised  money 
by  means  of  a  forced  loan,  and  had  shown  favor  to  new 
men  who  were  dependent  upon  him  for  their  position 
and  wealth.  Especially  he  had  placed  great  confi- 
dence in  three  men  named  Ratcliffe,  Catesby,  and 
Lovel.  So  much  favor  had  he  shown  them  that  people 
went  round  shouting  this  doggerel:  — 

"  The  Rat,  the  Cat,  and  Lovel  our  Dog 
Rule  all  England  under  the  Hog." 

In  fact,  he  became  so  unpopular,  and  his  own  party 
cared  so  little  for  him,  that  when  Henry  Tudor  came  to 

LANCASTERS   AND   TUDORS. 

Edward  III. 
I 


t.  Joiin  of 


Blanche  m.  John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster  m.  Katharine  Swynford. 


Henry  IV.  John  Beaufort,  Marquis  of 

I  Somerset. 

Henry  V.  m.  Katharine  m.  Owen  Tudor  John. 

I  of  France.  |  | 

Henry  VI.  Edmund  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond  w/.  Margaret. 

Prince  Edward.  Henry,  Earl  ot  Richmond, 

crowned  Henry  VII.  of  England. 


lOO  THE  YORKIST  KINGS.  [1485. 

England  in  1485  he  marched  almost  unmolested  to  the 

middle    of  the    island.     The    two    rivals    met    on    Bos- 

worth  Field.     Richard's  two  most   powerful   ad- 
Battle  r      t  1  1  •  T 

of  Bos-    herents   proved   faithless   to    him,   Lord    Stanley 
even  joining  his  stepson  Henry  during  the  fight. 
In  the  battle  Richard  was  killed,  and  at  its  close  the 
Earl  of  Richmond  was  greeted  as  Henry  VH. 

OUTLINE. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  changes  sides,  and  Edward  flees  away; 
he  returns  and  defeats  Warwick  and  the  Lancastrians.  Death  of 
Edward  and  of  his  sons.  Richard  of  Gloucester  becomes  king; 
his  hard  rule  and  overthrow  by  Henry  Tudor. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  was  Warwick  called  the  "king-maker"? 

2.  How  did  Richard  make  himself  king? 

3.  What  was  a  "  benevolence  "? 

TOPIC. 

Write  a  life  of  Henry  Tudor.  (Use  any  other  school  text-book 
with  this  one.) 


END   OF  THE   MIDDLE  AGES.  lOI 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

SOCIAL    CHANGES    DURING   THE    FIFTEENTH    CENTURY. 

AS  we  have  already  seen,  the  feudal  system  had 
begun  to  break  down  as  early  as  the  Second 
Richard's  time.  The  introduction  of  gunpowder,  by 
which  a  common  man,  armed  with  a  fire-arm,  became 
as  dangerous  as  the  knight  in  full  armor,  per-  ^^^^^ 
haps    more   so,   hastened  this   decay.       During  the  Mid- 

die  Asres. 

the  Wars  of  the  Roses  the  great  feudal  families 
practically  destroyed  one  another.  And  in  this  way, 
by  the  beginning  of  Henry  VII. 's  reign,  the  feudal 
structure  of  society  in  England  may  be  said  to  have 
perished.  A  new  era  opened,  not  only  for  England, 
but  for  the  civilized  world.  Columbus,  sailing  west- 
ward from  the  Canaries  in  search  of  a  passage  to  India, 
first  saw  the  New  World  in  1492.  Five  years  later  John 
Cabot,  sailing  under  a  license  from  Henry  VII.,  dis- 
covered the  northern  continent.  Upon  this  discovery 
of  John  Cabot  rested  the  claims  of  the  English  sover- 
eigns to  the  most  habitable  part  of  America. 

This  discovery  of  a  new  world  beyond  the  Atlantic 
might  have  produced  little  result,  and  even  been  for- 
gotten, had  not  another  discovery  already  come  .  . 
into  common  use.  This  was  the  art  of  printing, 
which  was  introduced  into  England  in  1477  ^Y  Caxton, 
who  had  acquired  the  art  in  Flanders.  Before  this 
time    the    only   way   of   multiplying    books    was    by 


102    SOCIAL   CHANGES   IN   THE  FIFTEENTH   CENTURY. 

copying  by  hand.  This  was  not  only  slow,  but  very 
expensive.  When  Caxton  set  up  his  printing-press  he 
was  by  no  means  a  young  man.  Yet  so  eager  were 
people  for  books  that  before  he  died  he  had  either 
written  or  translated  and  printed  sixty  works.  Learn- 
ing began  to  flourish,  and  in  the  next  century  England 
emerged  from  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  and  during 
Elizabeth's  reign  produced  the  greatest  works  in  the 
English  language. 

Another  thing  which  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new 

era  was  the   decay  of    villeinage,   or  serfdom.      This 

was    brought    about    in    part    by   the    Roman 

Abolition  ^  f  J 

of  villein-  CathoHc  pricsts,  who  induced  many  rich  men 
to  free  their  serfs.  Of  course,  in  the  long 
run,  this  was  beneficial  to  the  lower  class  and  to  the 
country;  but  for  a  while  there  was  much  suffering. 
In  feudal  times  a  man's  importance  depended  upon 
the  number  of  his  followers.  His  only  desire  then 
was  to  make  his  land  support  as  many  persons  as  pos- 
sible. Now,  however,  with  the  growth  of  trade  and 
commerce,  a  man's  importance  depended  more  upon  his 
wealth  than  upon  any  other  single  thing.  Men  only 
desired  to  get  as  much  profit  from  their  land  as  possi- 
ble. In  old  days  when  the  serf  became  sick  or  feeble 
he  was  taken  care  of,  though  not  very  tenderly,  by  his 
master.  Now  he  was  free,  and  was  turned  off,  if  he 
became  useless,  and  another  hired  in  his  place.  Then, 
too,  it  was  often  more  profitable  to  raise  sheep  for 
their  wool  than  to  raise  wheat.  But  it  takes  fewer 
men  to  tend  sheep  on  a  hundred  acres  than  it  takes 
to  raise  crops  on  those  same  acres;  and  in  this  way 
many  men  lost  their  occupation.  Then  again,  under 
the   old   syster^  of  landholding,  agriculture  was  very 


LOSS   OF   POWER   BY   PARLIAMENT.  I03 

slack.  Now,  however,  under  the  leasehold  system  it 
was  for  the  interest  of  the  tenant  to  make  as  much 
as  he  could  out  of  his  holding.  He  therefore  hired 
as  little  help  as  possible,  making  those  in  his  employ 
work  a  great  deal  harder  than  they  had  worked  before. 
In  one  way  or  another,  therefore,  vast  numbers  of 
men  were  thrown  out  of  employment  in  the  country. 
They  flocked  to  the  towns,  where  the  capitalists  stood 
ready  to  hire  them  by  the  day  or  week.  We  have 
already  seen  the  beginning  of  this.  Now,  however, 
laborers  streamed  to  the  towns  in  such  numbers  that 
what  was  called  the  "guild"  system,  by  which  each 
trade  managed  its  own  affairs,  was  weakened,  and  the 
system  of  open  competition,  such  as  we  now  have, 
began  to  prevail.  ; 

During  this  century  Parliament,  instead  of  gaining 
more  power,  had  lost  much  that  it  had  possessed.  In 
the  House  of  Lords  the  old  nobility  had  almost  Loss  of 
disappeared.  In  its  place  was  a  new  nobility,  ^^^[^^^ 
as  yet  dependent  on  the  king  and  devoted  to  "lent. 
him.  The  House  of  Commons,  too,  had  lost  much  of 
its  strength.  We  have  seen  how  the  right  to  vote  had 
been  restricted  in  the  counties.  In  the  towns,  or 
"boroughs,"  too,  the  same  process  had  gone  on.  In 
the  older  time  all  freemen  in  the  boroughs  had  voted. 
But  gradually,  in  many  boroughs,  a  small  circle  of  men 
secured  all  powers  of  government ;  and  in  this  way, 
while  the  town,  or  borough,  grew,  its  ruling  class 
remained  stationary  or  decreased  in  number.  As 
these  men  elected  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  for  their  borough,  the  commoners  ceased 
to  represent  the  people  at  large.  Now,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the   smaller   the   number  of  men  voting   for 


104    SOCIAL   CHANGES   IN  THE  FIFTEENTH   CENTURY. 

a  member  of  Parliament,  the  easier  it  was  for  the 
Government  to  intimidate  or  bribe  enough  voters  to 
give  them  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In 
this  way  Parliament,  during  the  whole  Tudor  period, 
became  little  better  than  a  tool  of  the  king  and  his 
ministers. 


A  FIFTEENTH-CENTURY  SHIP. 


One  important  gain  had  been  made,  though  it  did 
not  bear  fruit  till  later  times.  In  the  old  days  the 
Money  two  houses  had  drawn  up  petitions  asking  the 
3'"s.  i^jj^g  ^Q  grant  certain  laws.  The  king  often  con- 
;ented  to  a  petition,  and  then,  after  getting  the  money 
'-'e  wanted,  and  dissolving  Parliament,  so  changed  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES.  IO5 

law  that,  when  it  was  finally  passed,  those  who  had 
asked  for  it  could  not  recognize  it.  Now  the  two 
houses '  began  to  draw  up  the  laws  themselves,  and 
present  them  to  the  king  for  his  consent.  At  first, 
however,  it  was  a  change  only  in  form.  But  the  time 
was  coming  when  the  Commons  would  refuse  to  grant 
money  for  the  king's  use  until  he  had  assented  to  their 
bills,  as  these  petitions  now  came  to  be  called.  The 
machinery,  in  other  words,  was  all  ready  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country  by  the  House  of  Commons;  it 
only  remained  to  bring  a  class  into  power  which  could 
and  would  use  the  machinery.  And  wise  men  could 
already  foresee  the  coming  importance  of  the  middle 
class,  composed  of  merchants,  shopkeepers,  and  small 
farmers,  —  a  class  destined  in  time  to  rule  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  through  it  to  govern  England.  That 
time  was  to  be  long  deferred;  but  the  beginnings 
were  now  made.  And  that  is  why  with  the  reign  of 
Henry  VH.  modern  English  history  may  be  said  to 
begin.  Let  us  now  study  the  doings  of  these  Tudor 
sovereigns. 


OUTLINE. 

The  introduction  of  gunpowder,  the  discovery  of  America,  and 
the  introduction  of  printing  mark  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Change  in  agricultural  methods  and  building  up  of  towns.  Re- 
striction of  the  franchise. 


QUESTIONS. 

I.   Why  was  the  introduction  of  gunpowder  sure  to  put  an  end 
to  the  feudal  system  ? 


io6 


QUEStlONS. 


2.  Was  it  to  the  advantage  of  the  serf  to  be  freed  ?  how  about 
his  children  ? 

3.  Describe  the  way  in  which  the  franchise  was  restricted. 

TOPIC. 
Make  a  table  of  inventions  and  voyages  in  the  Fifteenth  Century. 


ROYAL    ARMS    AS    BORNE    BY    HE.VRV    IV.    AFTER    ABOUT    1408, 
AND    BY   SUCCESSIVE   SOVEREIGNS    DOWN    TO    1603. 


:48s]  HENRY   VII.  107 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

HENRY    VII. 
1485-1509. 

THOUGH  Henry  had  been  brought  to  the  throne 
as  the  leader  of  the  Lancastrian  party,  he  really 
became  king  because  there  was  no  one  to  oppose  him. 
To  make  his  title  more  secure  he  had  himself  elected 
king  by  Parliament,  and  married  Elizabeth  of  Henry's 
York,  daughter  of  Edward  IV.  In  many  re-  p^''^^^'^' 
spects  his  position  was  like  that  of  Henry  IV.,  and 
throughout  his  reign  he  was  always  careful  to  keep 
within  the  law.  He  also  enforced  the  law  with  great 
strictness,  encouraged  commerce  in  every  way,  and 
avoided  war  as  much  as  possible.  In  short,  his  quiet, 
strong  rule  was  precisely  what  England  needed  to 
enable  her  to  make  good  the  waste  of  the  civil  wars. 
It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  Henry  was  left 
to  enjoy  the  throne  in  peace. 

One  of  his  first  acts  had  been  to  imprison  the  young 
Earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  that  Duke  of  Clarence  who 
was  said  to  have   been  drowned  in  a  butt  of  .,, 

Attempt 

Malmsey.     In    1487  a  young  man  appeared   in  of 
Ireland,  and  pretended  to  be  this  same  Earl  of 
Warwick.     His  real  name  was  Lambert  Simnel;  and, 
invading  England,  he  was  captured,  and  made  an  assis- 
tant to    Henry's   own  cook;    but   his  followers  wer^ 
treated  with  great  severity. 


I08  HENRY  VII.  [149S. 

A  more  dangerous   claimant  soon  appeared,  styling 

himself   Richard    Plantagenet,    Duke    of    York.      He 

declared   that    when    his    brother,    Edward  V., 

Attempt  .  ' 

of  was  murdered  in  the  Tower,  his  own  life  had 

'been  spared.  His  real  name  was  probably 
Perkin  Warbeck.  But  whoever  he  was,  he  had  been 
so  well  schooled  in  his  part  that  he  deceived  many 
people  who  should  have  been  able  to  detect  an  im- 
postor. After  living  in  France  and  Burgundy,  he 
went  to  Scotland  and  married  Lady  Katharine  Gordon, 
a  kinswoman  of  the  Scottish  king.  He  then  tried  to 
invade  England,  first  from  Scotland,  and  then  by  way 
of  Cornwall,  where  there  happened  to  be  some  discon- 
tent. Both  attempts  failed.  In  1498  he  was  captured, 
taken  to  London,  and  he  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick,, 
trying  to  escape,  were  both  executed.  No  one,  even 
to  this  day,  really  knows  whether  Perkin  Warbeck  was 
an  impostor  or  the  son  of  Edward  IV. 

The  remainder  of  his  reign  Henry  devoted  to 
strengthening  his  position  by  marrying  his  children  to 
,  foreign  princes  and  princesses.  Some  of  these 
foreign  marriagcs  were  of  great  importance,  especially 
po icy.  ^^^^  ^^  ^.^  daughter  Margaret  to  James  IV.  of 
Scotland,  as  their  descendant  was  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  whose  son,  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  afterwards 
became  king  of  England. 

Owing  to  the  disturbance  of  the  civil  wars,  crime 
had  for  a  long  time  gone  on  unchecked.  Indeed,  it 
The  seemed  impossible  to  carry  out  the  laws,  one 
sJ'"/'^^  reason  being  that  juries  would  not  convict. 
Chamber,  Henry  therefore  instituted  a  new  court,  called 
the  Court  of  the  Star  Chamber,  where  offences  were 


1509]  QUESTIONS.  109 

tried  without  a  jury.  At  first  this  court  was  used  to 
suppress  crime.  But  during  later  reigns  it  became 
an  instrument  of  tyranny,  and  was  then  greatly  de- 
tested. In  1509  Henry  VII.  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Henry  VIII. 


TUDOR    ROSE    (WHITE   AND    RED)  :    FROM   THE    GATES    OF  THE   CHAl'EI. 
OF    HENRY    VII. 

OUTLINE. 

The  Pretenders,  Simnel  and  Warbeck.     Henry  VII.'s  foreign 
policy,  and  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  was  Henry  VII.  obliged  to  keep  within  the  Law? 

2.  Who  was  Perkin  Warbeck  ? 

3.  Why  was  the  Star  Chamber  instituted? 

TOPIC. 

Study  the  genealogy  on  p.  124,  and  set  down  on  paper  all  you 
can  find  out  about  any  one  great-granddaughter  of  Henry  VII. 


no  THE   SPANISH   MARRIAGE.  [1509. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

HENRY   VIII. 
1 509-1 547. 

THE  young  king  —  for  the  eighth  Henry  was  only 
eighteen  years  of  age  when  his  father  died  —  had 
many  things  in  his  favor.  He  was  handsome,  well- 
educated,  and  soon  rendered  himself  popular  by  per- 
secuting the  men  his  father  had  employed  to 
Spanish  extort  moucy.  These  men  had  always  kept 
'  within  the  law,  but  they  were  none  the  less 
hated.  He  then  completed  the  marriage  with  his 
brother's  widow,  Katharine  of  Arragon,  daughter  of 
the  king  of  Spain.  This  marriage,  or  rather  the 
breaking  of  it,  proved  to  be  of  such  great  consequence 
to  England  and  to  all  Englishmen  that  we  must  stop 
a  moment  and  see  who  Katharine  was,  and  why  Henry 
had  delayed  for  years  to  carry  out  his  part  of  the  mar- 
riage agreement.  In  the  first  place  Katharine  was  the 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  under  whose 
license  Columbus  had  sailed  on  his  famous  voyage  for 
India.  It  was  in  their  time,  too,  that  all  of  what  we 
now  call  Spain  was  united  under  one  rule.  Katharine's 
nephew  Charles,  soon  to  become  emperor  as  Charles 
v.,  was  by  far  the  most  powerful  man  of  his  time. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  Henry  should  not 
wish  to  offend  the  great  house  of  Spain,  and  be- 
sides,   at    that    time    Englishmen    regarded    Spain   as 


'509.] 


ttENRV   Viil. 


Ill 


HENRY  VIII.:  FROM   A   PAINTING   BY  HOLBEIN   ABOUT  1536, 
BELONGING  TO   EARL  SPENCER. 


112  HENRY  VIII.  [1513 

their  natural  friend.  How  this  last  feeling  came  to 
be  changed  we  shall  see  before  long.  There  was  one 
thing  against  this  marriage,  and  that  was  that  the  law  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  —  the  canon  law,  as  it  is 
sometimes  called  —  did  not  allow  a  man  to  marry  his 
brother's  widow.  This  prohibition  was  based  on  the 
Old  Testament,  and  is  still  the  rule  in  some  countries, 
including  England.  The  Pope,  however,  was  very 
anxious  to  please  Katharine's  family,  and  granted 
to  Henry  and  Katharine  a  release,  or  dispensation, 
from  the  operation  of  the  law,  and  so  they  were  speed- 
ily  married. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Henry  VTT.  had  kept 
out  of  war  whenever  it  was  possible.  His  son,  how- 
War  with  ever,  was  less  peaceful,  and  was  soon  at  war 
France,  ^j^j^  France,  fighting  on  the  side  of  the  Span- 
iards and  the  Germans.  The  war  amounted  to  little, 
though  the  English  won  a  strange  victory  at  Guinegaste 
in  Flanders,  where  the  French  ran  away  so  fast  that 
it  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  Battle  of  the  Spurs. " 
As  had  happened  so  many  times  before,  the  French 
king  thought  the  best  way  to  meet  the  English  attack 
would  be  to  stir  up  the  Scots,  so  in  this  same  year  the 
Scots  invaded  England;  but  all  Englishmen  were  not 
in  France,  though  the  king  was.  Led  by  Lord  Surrey, 
the  English  attacked  the  Scots  at  Flodden  Edge. 
King  James  I.V.  of  Scotland,  Henry's  brother-in-law, 
was  killed  on  the  field,  the  Scottish  force  was  com- 
pletely broken  up,  and  soon  after  a  general  peace  was 
made. 

Henry's  chief  adviser  during  these  first  years  of  his 
reign  was  Thomas  Wolsey.  This  great  statesman 
was  of   respectable  birth  and   well  educated,  and   by 


1 519]  CARDINAL  WOLSEY.  1 1 3. 

his  great  talents  and  industry  raised  himself  from 
one  position  to  another  till  he  became  chancellor, 
Archbishop  of  York,  a  cardinal,  and  even  legate  of 
the  Pope  in  England.  As  legate  he  possessed  cardinal 
all  the  power  which  the  Pope  would  have  w°'s^y- 
exerted  had  he  been  personally  in  England.  From 
his  decision  in  matters  of  religion  there  was  no 
appeal.  In  this  way  the  English  people  became 
accustomed  to  having  all  power  in  church  and  state 
centred  in  their  own  government ;  and  when,  in  a  few 
years,  the  king  was  declared  the  head  of  the  English 
Church,  instead  of  the  Pope  or  his  legate,  it  did  not 
seem  so  strange  to  the  people  as  it  would  have  at 
one  time  seemed.  Wolsey  was  a  very  far-seeing  man. 
He  saw  that  the  time  was  not  far  off  when  a  refor- 
mation of  the  Catholic  Church  would  be  demanded  in 
such  a  way  that  it  could  not  be  resisted.  He  wished 
to  save  the  Church  by  reforming  it  from  the  inside 
rather  than  by  having  the  reform  forced  upon  it  by 
those  outside.  For  this  reason  he  had  become  legate, 
and  he  actually  began  reforms  in  the  Church  in  Eng- 
land, For  the  same  reason,  too,  he  desired  to  become 
Pope.  It  so  happened  that  at  this  time  there  was 
an  election  for  the  crown  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
Charles  I.  of  Spain,  who  was  also  Archduke  of  Austria, 
had  the  best  claim ;  but  Francis  I.  of  France  also  put 
in  a  claim,  and  so  did  Henry.  Charles  was  elected, 
and  war  between  him  and  Francis  was  sure  to  follow. 
Both  tried  to  secure  the  aid  of  England,  and  Francis 
entertained  Henry  in  a  most  regal  way  on  a  plain 
afterwards  called  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold, 
because  of  the  splendor  there  displayed ;  but  Wolsey 
and  Henry  had  other  plans.     Even  before  this  meet- 


114  HENRY  VIII.  [1528. 

ing,  Charles  had  visited  England  secretly,  and  by 
promising  his  aid  to  Wolsey  in  the  matter  of  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  Pope,  had  led  England  again  to  take  the 
side  of  Spain  and  Germany.  Soon,  however,  there 
was  a  change.  Charles  beat  Francis  so  completely  as 
no  longer  to  need  the  aid  of  England ;  and  when  the 
election  for  a  new  Pope  came  off,  he  worked  against 
Wolsey.  So  Henry  and  Wolsey  changed  sides,  and  in 
1527  made  an  alliance  with  France.  In  other  ways, 
too,  Henry  abandoned  the  Spanish  alliance. 

He  had  never  loved  Katharine,  and  as  years  went  by, 
and  son  after  son  died  soon  after  birth,  he  began  to 
^^^  have  conscientious  scruples  about  the  rightful- 
divorce    ness  of  the  marriage.     These  scruples,  even  if 

from  ..,,..  1   .    1 

Katha-  they  were  genume  in  the  begmning,  which  many 
people  doubt,  were  greatly  increased  when  he 
fell  violently  in  love  with  Anne  Boleyn,  a  lady  of  his 
court,  and  a  granddaughter  of  that  Thomas  Howard, 
Earl  of  Surrey  and  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  won  the 
great  victory  at  Flodden  Edge.      The  king  first  applied 

THE   HOWARDS. 

John  Howard,  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
killed  at  Bosworth. 

Thomas,  Earl  of  Surrey,  victor  of  Flodden, 
restored  to  the  dukedom. 

^_____^ ^! 

Thomas,  Duke  of     Edmund.         William,  Lord         Thomas  Boleyn  »z.  Elizabeth. 
Norfolk.  I  Howard  of  Effingham.  I 


Anne  Boleyn  m. 
Henry  VHI.,  executed  1536 


Katharine  m.  Henry  VHI. 
executed  1542. 
Henry,  Earl  of 
Surrey,  executed  Charles,  2d  Lord  Howard  of 

T547.  Effingham,  defeats  '        | 

!  Armada,  1588.  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Thomas,  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
executed  1572. 


1529.]  HENRY'S   PERSONAL  RULE.  II5 

to  the  Pope  for  a  divorce  from  Katharine,  asserting  the 
original  marriage  to  have  been  illegal.  Clement  VII. 
was  then  pope.  After  a  great  deal  of  hesitation,  he 
appointed  Cardinal  Wolsey  and  another  cardinal,  an 
Italian,  to  hear  what  Henry  and  Katharine  had  to  say 
on  the  subject.  But  he  strictly  ordered  them  to  give 
no  decision  without  first  obtaining  his  own  approval. 
They  opened  their  court  at  London  in  1529.  For 
month  after  month  the  case  dragged  on  until,  finally, 
Clement  interfered  and  directed  that  the  whole  matter 
should  be  tried  before  him  at  Rome.  Wolsey  had 
assured  the  king  that  the  divorce  would  be  granted, 
and  when  it  was  not  allowed,  Henry  lost  all  patience. 
Wolsey  was  dismissed  from  all  his  offices,  and  his  prop- 
erty was  confiscated  to  the  Crown.  It  is  true  that  by 
accepting  the  office  of  legate  he  had  done  an  illegal 
act;  but  he  had  done  it  at  Henry's  special  request. 
Henry  the  Eighth,  however,  never  remembered  such 
things  when  a  man  had  offended  him.  Wolsey  had 
extorted  money  in  many  illegal  ways,  and  it  was  at- 
tempted to  make  his  offences  treason.  The  first  at- 
tempt, owing  to  the  exertions  of  his  former  servant, 
Thomas  Cromwell,  failed,  and  while  coming  to  London 
to  stand  trial  on  a  later  charge  he  died. 

When  Wolsey  was  out  of  power  and  place,  the  king, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  reign,  looked  about  him  with 
his  own   eyes.  ^  From  that  moment,  though  he 

1         Henry's 

employed  able  men  in  his  service,  Henry  the  personal 
Eighth  ruled  England.  And  he  ruled  England 
as  few  kings  have  ruled  before  or  since.  His  political 
instincts  and  abilities  were  indeed  remarkable.  In 
many  ways  Henry  was  a  brute  and  a  tyrant.  His 
mind  was  despotic,  and  he   did   many  things   that   no 


Il5  HENRY  VIII.  [1532. 

one  likes  to  recall.  Let  it  be  said,  therefore,  to  his 
credit,  that  it  was  owing  mainly  to  his  sagacity  and 
firmness  that  England  was  spared  the  religious  wars 
and  persecutions  to  which  France,  Germany,  and  Spain 
were  subjected.  Henry  saw  very  clearly  that  the  peo- 
ple would  be  on  his  side  in  a  struggle  with  the  Pope. 
Not  that  Englishmen  were  not  Catholics  so  far  as  doc- 
trine and  belief  went.  But  they  wished  for  some 
reformation  in  the  government  of  that  Church  in  Eng- 
land. A  few  years  before,  Henry  had  become  so 
angry  with  Luther,  the  German  reformer,  that  he  had 
actually  written  a  book  against  him,  for  which  the 
Pope  had  given  him  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith."  The  title  is  still  borne  by  English  monarchs; 
but  it  was  not  long  before  the  Pope  must  have  thought 
Henry  very  undeserving  of  it.  In  1529  a  Parliament 
met,  and  the  House  of  Commons,  under  the  guidance 
of  Thomas  Cromwell,  entered  heartily  into  the  work 
of  reforming  the  Church  in  England.  Sir  Thomas 
More,  Wolsey's  successor  as  chancellor,  was  unwill- 
ing to  go  as  far  as  Henry  desired,  and  before  long 
Thomas  Cromwell  became  the  king's  chief  adviser. 

In  1532  Parliament  passed  an  act  forbidding  all  ap- 
peals to  the  Pope.  In  1532,  also,  Thomas  Cranmer,  a 
j^^  scholar  of  Cambridge,  who  had  already  suggested 
Statute  many  things  to  Henry,  became  Archbishop  of 
appeals  Canterbury.  The  question  of  the  legality  of  the 
'  marriage  with  Katharine  was  immediately  brought 
before  him  in  his  archbishop's  court,  and  a  decision  given 
in  Henry's  favor.  The  king  then  acknowledged  his 
marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn.  In  a  short  time  a  daugh- 
ter, the  Princess  Elizabeth,  was  born,  and  Parliament, 


534] 


THE  CHURCH   OF  ENGLAND. 


117 


SIR  THOMAS   MORE,    WEARING   THE   COLLAR   OF   SS  :   FROM  AN 

ORIGINAL   PORTRAIT   PAINTED   BY   HOLBEIN    IN   I527, 

BELONGING  TO    EDWARD  HUTH,    ESQ. 


declaring  the  children  of  Henry  and  Anne  to  be  the 
true  heirs  of  the  crown,  disinherited  Katharine's 
daughter,   the  Princess  Mary. 

The  reformation  of  the  English  Church,  however, 
did  not  stop  with  the  divorce  of  Katharine.  The 
Pope  excommunicated  Henry,  and  declared  the  divorce 


Il8  HENRY  VIII.  [1536 

to  be  of  no  account.  Almost  in  self-defence  the 
king  was  obliged  to  break  with  the  Pope.  Parlia- 
The  ment  passed  law  after  law.  Payments  of  any 
Church  ]^[^^  \yy  tj^g  clergy  to  Rome  were  forbidden. 
England.  Pqj.  |-]^g  future  all  such  payments  must  be  made 
to  the  king.  Bishops  should  no  longer  be  appointed  by 
the  Pope,  but  should  be  chosen  according  to  the  king's 
command.  Many  changes,  too,  were  made  in  the  dis- 
cipline  of  the  Church  in  England.  Even  the  clergy 
were  forced  to  admit  the  right  of  ParHament  to  regulate 
the  affairs  of  the  Church,  to  pay  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  the  king,  and  even  to  acknowledge  him  to  be  "  Su- 
preme Head  on  Earth  of  the  Church  of  England." 
In  fact,  it  was  dangerous  to  deny  this  title;  for 
the  Act  of  Supremacy,  passed  in  1534,  declared 
any  one  who  should  do  this  guilty  of  high  treason. 
Among  the  first  to  refuse  this  recognition  was  Sir 
Thomas  More,  and  by  his  prompt  execution  Henry 
showed  how  terribly  in  earnest  he  and  his  advisers 
were. 

In  England,  as  in  all  other  Catholic  countries, 
there  were  then  two  classes  of  persons  called,  techni- 
Destruc-  cally,  *'  ccclesiastlcs,"  —  the  secular  and  regular. 
thTmon-  The  former  were  the  parish  priests  or  their  su- 
asteries.  periors,  as  far  as  the  archbishops.  The  latter 
were  men  or  women  who  had  taken  vows  to  live 
according  to  certain  rules  and  regulations.  With 
few  exceptions,  these  were  gathered  into  convents 
and  monasteries  and  other  places  where  they  lived 
together.  Now  the  monks  and  friars  had  great  in- 
fluence with  the  people,  and  so  far  the  reforms  in  the 
English  Church  had  not  touched  them.  On  the  con- 
trary,  they  were  working  hard  to  arouse  the   people 


1539-]  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  MONASTERIES.  II9 

against  Henry  and  his  reformation.  Probably  it  was 
necessary  for  his  own  safety  to  put  a  stop  to  this ;  but 
Henry  acted  here,  as  always,  with  harshness,  urged  on, 
no  doubt,  by  Cromwell,  and  inspired  by  the  thought 
of  the  riches  to  be  obtained.  For  years  it  had  been 
known  that  in  some  of  these  monasteries  the  monks 
led  far  from  holy  lives.  It  was  determined  to  send  a 
commission  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  them  all. 
This  commission  acted  in  a  very  despotic  manner,  and 
obtained  evidence  oftentimes  in  most  discreditable 
ways.  There  probably  was  some  truth  in  its  report, 
but  there  must  have  been  a  great  deal  of  falsehood. 
At  all  events,  it  was  decided  to  suppress  the  monas- 
teries and  other  like  establishments.  In  1536  the 
smaller  ones  were  suppressed,  and  three  years  later  the 
larger  ones  shared  their  fate.  The  wealth  poured  into 
the  king's  treasury  was  enormous.  Some  of  it  was 
used  for  religion,  some  for  new  fortifications;  but  most 
of  it  found  its  way  into  the  pockets  of  Henry's  minis- 
ters and  friends.  As  it  turned  out,  this  was  the  very 
best  thing  that  could  have  happened.  Had  the  king 
and  his  successors  kept  this  wealth  in  lands  and  goods, 
and  managed  it  with  any  shrewdness,  there  would  have 
been  no  more  appeals  to  Parliament  for  money.  The 
English  king  would  have  been  as  despotic  as  any 
monarch  of  Christendom.  Whoever  obtained  in  this 
way  the  lands  of  an  abbey  or  monastery  became  The 
a  firm  opponent  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  a  sup-  l^hde- 
porter  of  the  Reformation  in  England.  Many  ^*''"^*'°"' 
of  the  most  important  families  in  England  date  their 
worldly  prosperity  from  this  time.  This  suppression  of 
the  monasteries  produced  another  great  result.  The 
control  of  the  House  of  Lords  passed  into  the  hands 


120  HENRY  VIII.  [1536. 

of  the  lay  peers.  Up  to  this  time  three  classes  had 
sat  in  the  upper  house, —  the  lay  peers,  like  the  Earl 
of  Surrey,  the  archbishops  and  bishops,  and  the  mitred 
abbots.  These  last  two,  forming  the  spiritual  peers, 
outnumbered  the  lay  lords.  But  when  the  abbots  dis- 
appeared, the  House  of  Lords  took  on  its  modern  shape 
of  a  body  composed  of  the  wealthy  landowners  and 
great  soldiers  and  statesmen  of  England.  And  as  the 
lay  peers  from  this  time  on  increased  with  much 
greater  rapidity  than  the  spiritual  peers,  the  political 
importance  of  the  latter  has  decreased,  till  now  they 
have  almost  no  political  importance  at  all. 

Before  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  had  pro- 
ceeded very  far  the  cause  of  the  break  with  Rome  her- 
Execu-  self  disappeared.  It  is  possible  that  Anne 
Amie  Boleyn  may  not  have  acted  with  all  the  dignity 
Boieyn.  becoming  a  queen.  It  is  more  likely  that 
Henry  had  become  tired  of  her,  and  charged  her 
with  evil  conduct  as  the  easiest  way  of  getting  rid 
of  her.  At  all  events,  in  1536  she  was  beheaded. 
The  king  then  married  Jane-  Seymour,  who  lived 
long  enough  to  give  birth  to  a  boy,  afterwards  King. 
Edward  VI. 

Meantime  the  Reformation  had  been  making  rapid 
progress.  Everywhere  there  was  great  eagerness  to 
The  Six  read  the  Bible.  Neighboring  families  joined  in 
Articles.  |.|^^  purchase  of  one,  and  a  copy  was  kept  chained 
to  the  reading-desk  in  every  parish  church.  In  fact, 
the  Reformation  had  gone  farther  than  Henry  or  the 
great  mass  of  Englishmen  desired  it  to  go.  In  all  mat- 
ters of  doctrine  and  belief  he  was  a  good  Catholic, 
and  refused  to  allow  any  change  in  those  respects.  His 
opinions  were  expressed  in  a  statute,  called  the  Act  of 


I5J9J  LAST  YEARS   OF  HENRY  Vltl.  121 

the  Six  Articles,  passed  in  1 539.  But  Henry  would  allow 
no  persecution,  and  several  times  when  the  bishops 
had  put  this  Act  into  execution,  Henry  interfered, 
and  released  those  imprisoned.  By  this  time  the  in- 
fluence of  Cromwell,  who  wished  to  go  much  farther, 
had  become  greatly  weakened.  It  had  been  one  of  his 
pet  schemes  to  marry  Henry  to  one  of  the  Protestant 
princesses  of  Germany,  and  thus  bring  him  under  the 
influence  of  German  Protestantism.  Unfortunately 
the  princess  selected,  Anne  of  Cleves,  proved  to  be 
very  ugly.  Henry  was  obliged  to  marry  her;  but  he 
soon  separated  from  her,  giving  her  a  pension.  For 
Cromwell  the  affair  was  more  serious.  Like  Wolsey, 
he  had  been  very  arbitrary,  and  had  made  many  ene- 
mies. The  king  was  furious  with  him  on  account  of 
the  marriage;  so  he  withdrew  his  favor,  and 
Cromwell  was  declared  guilty  of  treason  by  an  Crom- 
Act  of  Parliament,  and  executed  without  any 
trial.  This  was  done  by  an  "Act  of  Attainder," 
which  was  passed  like  any  law.  It  is  a  little  singular 
that  the  precise  form  this  took  at  that  time  had  been 
devised  by  Cromwell,  and  further  that  he  was  the  first 
to  be  thus  put  out  of  the  way. 

The  king  had  two  more  wives,  —  Katharine  Howard 
(Anne  Boleyn's  cousin,  who  soon  turned  out  to  be  un- 
desirable), and  Katharine  Parr.  The  latter  was  Last 
already  a  widow,  and  was  a  woman  of  uncom-  Henry''^ 
mon  sagacity.  She  humored  Henry  in  every  way,  ^"^• 
and  so  pleased  him  by  her  care  and  attention  that 
she  not  only  contrived  to  outlive  him,  but  even  to 
secure  a  great  influence  over  him.  Henry  was  now 
getting  old  and  feeble.  He  had  grown  so  stout  that 
it  is  said  he  could  not  walk.     Every  one  but  himself 


12^  HENRY  VIII.  [1547. 

saw  his  end  was  soon  coming,  and  a  great  strife  began 
as  to  who  should  rule  during  the  minority  of  his  son. 
The  Howards,  with  Norfolk  at  their  head,  thought 
they  had  the  best  right;  but  the  king's  jealousy  was 
aroused,  and  Surrey  was  executed.  Norfolk  would 
have  followed  him,  had  not  Henry  died  before  the 
time  set  for  the  execution.  The  Howards  were  quite 
opposed  to  all  reform  in  religion,  and  they  were  re- 
sisted by  the  Seymours,  the  uncles  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  liberals  in  religion.  By  Henry's  will 
and  an  Act  of  Parliament  the  succession  to  the  crown 
was  given  to  Edward,  then  to  Mary,  then  to  Elizabeth ; 
and  if  these  had  no  children,  to  the  heirs  of  Henry's 
younger  sister  Mary,  thus  passing  over  the  descendants 
of  his  sister  Margaret,  who  had  married  the  King  of 
Scots. 


ANGEL  OF   HENRY  VIII.,    1543, 


OUTLINE. 


123 


THE  TUDORS. 
Henry  VII. 


Henry  VIII. 
I 


EdwarwVI.  Mary    Elizabeth 

(son  of  Jane  (daughter    (daughter 

Seymour),  of  Katharine  of  Anne 

of  Arragon).   Boleyn). 


Margaret,  married  Mary,  married 

(i)  James  IV.  of  (i)  Louis  XII.  of 

Scotland,  France ; 

(2)  Archibald  Douglas,  (2)  Charhs  Brandon, 


Earl  of  Angus. 


Duke  of  Suffolk. 


James  V.  of 
Scotland. 


Margaret  Douglas  m.  Matthew  Stuart,    Frances  m. 
I  Earl  of  Lenox.  I 


Henry  Grey, 
Duke  of 
Suffolk. 


Mary  ;«,  Henry  Stuart,  Charles  Stuart,  Lady  Jane  Grey  m.  Guil 
Queen  of  I  Lord  Darnley.  Earl  of  Lenox.  ford  Dudley 

Scots      I 
James  VI.  of  Scotland,  crowned 
James  I.  of  England. 


Katharine  m. 

Edward 

Seymour, 

Far!  of  Hertford 

Edward,  Lord 
Beauchamp. 

I 
Arabella  Stuart ;;/.  Sir  William  Seymour 


OUTLINE. 

Henry  VI I L  marries  Katharine  of  Arragon,  and  makes  war  on 
France.  Defeat  of  the  French  and  of  the  Scots,  their  allies. 
Cardinal  Wolsey  :  his  power  and  policy.  Henry  divorces  Katha- 
rine and  marries  Anne  Boleyn.  Fall  of  Wolsey,  and  rise  of 
Thomas  Cromwell.  The  Reformation  in  England;  the  Act  of 
Supremacy,  death  of  More,  destruction  of  tlie  monasteries.  Weak- 
ening of  the  power  of  the  ecclesiastics.  The  fall  of  Cromwell,  and 
the  last  days  of  Henry  VI IL 


QUESTIONS.    . 

T.   Who  was  Katharine  of  Arragon? 

2.  Describe  Wolsey's  life. 

3.  What  famous   people  were  related  to  Anne   Boleyn? 
one  thing  about  each  of  them. 


Tell 


124  QUESTIONS. 

4.  Why  was  it  fortunate  that  Henry  did  not  keep  the  riches 
seized  from  the  monasteries? 

5.  How  was  Thomas  Cromwell  put  out  of  the  way  ?  Look  up 
the  matter  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  say 
whether  a  similar  thing  could  be  done  in  America. 

TOPICS. 

The  Fall  of  Wolsey.  Shakspere's  Henry  VIII. ;  Green's  Short 
History,  Ch.  VI.  §  v.  The  Battle  of  Flodden.  Scott's  Marmion, 
Canto  VI. 


[547-1  THE  SCOTTISH  WAR.  12$ 


CHAPTER   XX. 

EDWARD    VI. 

i547-'553- 

\  T /HEN  Henry's  will  was  opened  it  was  found  that 
V  V        he  had  appointed  sixteen  executors  to  govern 
the  kingdom  during  his  son's  boyhood.     Pie  expected 
these  executors  to  act  in  a  very  cautious  way,  so  that 
there  should  be  as  few  changes  as  possible  when 
Edward    took    the    government    into    his    own  Somer- 
hands.     As  a  matter  of  fact  the  very  opposite 
was   done.     The    Seymours    got   all    power   into    their 
hands,  and  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  the  head  of  the  family 
and  uncle  to  the  young  king,  was  made  protector.     He 
soon  made  himself  a  duke,  with  the  title  of  Somerset, 
and  is  known  in  history  as  the  Protector  Somerset. 

Lord  Protector  Somerset  was  an  able  man,  and  a 
very  well-meaning  man  too.  Put  he  lacked  the  neces- 
sary patience  and  steadfastness  of  purpose  to 
govern  a  great  kingdom  in  such  troubled  times.  Scottish 
His  first  failure  was  in  connection  with  Scot- 
tish affairs.  Henry  had  very  much  wished  to  marry 
Edward  to  his  cousin,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  In  this 
way  the  two  kingdoms  would  have  been  united ;  but 
the  prejudices  of  the  Scots  had  prevented  the  marriage. 
By  waiting,  these  prejudices  might  have  been  over- 
come; but  Somerset  would  not  wait.  He  sent  an 
army    to    Scotland,  defeated    the    Scottish   forces,  and 


126  EDWARD   VI.  [1553. 

'*  by  the  manner  of  the  wooing "  so  disgusted  those 
hitherto  favorable  to  the  marriage  that  they  sent  the 
young  queen  to  France,  and  married  her  to  the 
Dauphin. 

Somerset,  too,  tried  to  push  on  the  reformation  of 
religion  faster  than  people  wished.  Images  were  pulled 
Progress  dowu,  the  painted  walls  of  the  churches  cov- 
ReSrina-  ^^^^  ^^^^^  whitewash,  a  new  service-book  was 
tion.  prepared,  and  the  Articles  were  repealed. 
There  were  other  causes  of  discontent,  and  the  re- 
sult of  everything  was  a  series  of  rebellions  which 
Somerset  proved  unable  to  suppress.  Dudley,  Earl 
of  Warwick,  now  came  to  the  front.  Taking  command 
of  the  army,  he  crushed  the  rebellions,  and  then 
Somer-    Overturned  Somerset,  making  himself  protector. 

set. 

A  few  years  later,  Somerset  tried  to  regain 
his  power,  and  was  beheaded.  Warwick  and  the  other 
executors  now  set  themselves  to  work  to  make  their 
own  fortunes,  regardless  of  the  welfare  of  the  kingdom. 
They  also  found  it  necessary  still  to  press  on  the 
Reformation.  Among  those  who  refused  to  change 
their  religion  was  the  Princess  Mary.  This  made  it 
all    the   easier   for    Warwick,    now   become    Duke   of 

Northumberland,  to  persuade  Edward,  who  was 
Jane       an  ardent  reformer,  to  appoint  Lady  Jane  Grey 

his  heir.  This  Lady  Jane  was  descended  from 
Henry  VIIL 's  younger  sister  Mary.  She  was  a 
Protestant  and  the  wife  of  Northumberland's  son. 
Lord  Guilford  Dudley.  Soon  after  he  had  signed  this 
will  Edward  VI.  died  of  consumption,  though  there  were 
not  wanting  persons  who  thought  that  he  had  been 
poisoned.  The  Lady  Jane  was  crowned  queen,  but  her 
reign,  if  reign  it  can  be  called,  lasted  only  nine  days. 


I553-J  MARY  TUDOR.  12/ 

The  Princess  Mary  had  managed  to  keep  out  of 
Northumberland's  grasp,  and  people  flocked  to  her 
from  all  sides.  No  one  then  knew  what  a  nar-  Mary 
row  and  bigoted  person  she  was.  They  did  ^^^°^- 
know  what  a  hateful  person  Northumberland  was,  and 
they  were  resolved  to  deprive  him  of  power.  Then, 
too,  Mary's  right  to  the  crown  was  the  better,  and 
England  was  resolved,  whatever  might  happen,  that 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses  should  not  begin  again. 


OUTLINE. 

Henry's  son,  Edward  VI.,  was  but  a  boy  at  his  father's  death. 
Evil  government  of  Somerset,  Lord  Protector.  The  Reformation 
pushed  on  too  fast.  Scheme  of  Dudley  to  secure  the  throne  for 
his  daughter-in-law,  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  its  failure. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  evils  of  Somerset's  government.  What  was  the 
result  of  his  policy  in  England?  in  Scotland? 

2.  Who  was  Lady  Jane  Grey  (genealogy  on  p.  124). 


128  MARY  THE  CATHOLIC.  [i5S3- 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

MARY   THE    CATHOLIC. 
1553-1558. 

THE  central  idea  of  Queen  Mary's  short  reign, 
which  lasted  for  only  five  years,  was  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old  religion  in  England.  She  wished,  not 
merely  to  restore  things  as  they  were  at  the  beginning 
Mary's  ^^  Edward's  reign,  but  to  connect  England  once 
policy,  more  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  it 
had  been  connected  before  the  time  of  Henry  VHI. 
Parliament,  as  was  usual  in  those  days,  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  sovereign's  friends.  Everything  was 
done  as  Mary  wished,  till  it  came  to  restoring  the 
property  confiscated  from  the  monasteries.  But  so 
many  members  of  Parliament  were  interested  in  keep- 
ing those  lands  in  their  own  hands  that  any  such 
general  restoration  of  the  property  of  the  Church  was 
plainly  impossible.  Mary,  however,  gave  back  what- 
ever the  Crown  still  possessed  of  the  spoils,  which, 
indeed,  was  not  very  much.  Before  long,  Northum- 
berland was  beheaded,  though  he  tried  at  the  last 
moment  to  save  his  miserable  life  by  declaring  that  he 
had  always  been  a  good  Roman  Catholic. 

Mary  then  married  her  cousin,  Philip  H.  of  Spain, 
like  herself  a  strong  Roman  Catholic.     But  English- 


1553-]  MARY   MARRIES    PHILIP   OF   SPAIN.  12^^ 


QUEEN     MARV  TUDOR:    FROM   A    PAINTING    BY   LUCAS   DE    HEERE, 
DATED  1554,  BELONGING  TO  THE  SOCIETY  OF  ANTIQUARIES. 

men  were  so  much  opposed  to  this  match  that  Philip 
was  given  no  share  in  the   government  of  the  g^^ 
country,  and  it  was  agreed  that  England  should  p^!^^^. 
never  be  called  on  to  defend  Philip's  possessions.  Spain. 


130  MARY  THE  CATHOLIC.  [155$ 

It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  friends  of  the 
Reformation  would  stand  idly  by  and  make  no  attempt 
to  stop  these  proceedings.  A  rebellion  broke 
in  out,    and   was   put  down  with   some   difficulty. 

'The  rebels  designed  placing  Anne  Boleyn's 
daughter,  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  on  the  throne.  But 
so  prudent  had  been  her  conduct,  guided  as  she  was  by 
William  Cecil,  that  she  could  not  be  connected  directly 
with  the  plot,  from  whose  success  she  would  have  been 
the  chief  gainer.  For  the  remainder  of  Mary's  reign, 
however,  she  was  kept  a  close  prisoner  at  Woodstock. 
The  unfortunate  Lady  Jane  Grey  and  her  husband  did 
not  fare  so  well.  Although  but  seventeen  years  of 
age.  Lady  Jane  Grey  was  executed,  and  within  a  few 
days  at  least  eighty  persons  were  hanged  in  London 
alone. 

Her  rivals  being  thus  killed  or  imprisoned.  Queen 
Mary  thought  she  could  with  safety  coerce  the  people 
The  of  England  into  becoming  good  Roman  Catho- 
martyrs.  jj^^g^  qj.  Ij^j-^  them  if  they  resisted  or  refused. 
It  was  easy  enough  to  get  Parliament  to  pass  laws  by 
which  this  might  be  done  legally,  though  Parliament 
probably  never  once  dreamed  of  the  length  to  which 
the  burnings  would  be  carried.  The  Pope,  on  his  side, 
gave  way  a  little,  and  received  England  back  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Roman  Church,  though  the  Church  lands 
were  not  restored.  The  most  notable  victim  of  this 
persecution  was  Archbishop  Cranmer,  who  had  pre- 
sided at  the  trial  at  which  Mary's  mother  was  divorced 
from  King  Henry.  Cranmer  was  now  a  feeble  old  man, 
and  to  the  feebleness  of  age  might  perhaps  be  attributed 
his  brief  submission  to  the  Pope.  But  it  did  not  last 
long;  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  make  his  con- 


1558 1  MARYS   DEATH.  I3I 

fession  in  a  public  manner,  he  recanted  everything,  and 
declared  that  his  unworthy  hand,  which  had  written 
the  letter  of  submission,  should  be  the  first  part  of 
him  to  be  burned,  and  so  indeed  it  was.  The  other 
bishops  then  burned  were  Hooper,  Ridley,  and  Lati- 
mer. The  last  two  were  burned  at  the  same  time;  and 
it  is  related  that  as  the  fires  were  lighted,  Latimer  said 
to  his  companion:  **  Play  the  man,  Master  Ridley;  we 
shall  this  day  light  such  a  candle  in  England  as  by 
the  grace  of  God  never  shall  be  put  out."  He  was 
right;  for  to  these  and  other  similar  burnings  was  due, 
more  than  to  any  other  one  thing,  the  permanent  sever- 
ance of  England  from  the  Roman  Church.  In  all, 
nearly  three  hundred  persons  were  burned.  When 
compared  with  similar  persecutions  on  the  Continent, 
these  numbers  seem  small,  and  it  must  always  be  re- 
membered that  it  was  a  time  of  great  bitterness  of 
feeling;  and  that  we  know  of  these  persecutions  mainly 
through  writers  who  were  disposed  to  make  the  most 
of  everything  which  was  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  Mary.  It  is  certain,  at  any  rate, 
that  the  people  of  England  did  not  at  all  like  such 
proceedings,  and  that  nothing  did  more  to  make  Eng- 
lishmen into  Protestants  than  these  same  burnings 
and  other  cruel  punishments. 

In  fact,  Mary  is  to  be  pitied  as  well  as  blamed.  She 
was  personally  so  unattractive  that  Philip  soon  left  her 
to  look  after  his  own  affairs  on  the  mainland.  Gary's 
No  child  was  born  to  them,  and  it  soon  became  ^^'^• 
evident  that  the  time  was  not  far  off  when  Mary's 
diseased  body  and  mind  would  pass  away,  and  her 
hated  Protestant  sister  Elizabeth,  Anne  Boleyn's 
daughter,    become   queen.      To  gdd  to  these  misfor- 


132  MARY   THE   CATHOLIC.  [1558. 

tunes,  in  spite  of  the  agreement  made  when  Philip  and 
Mary  were  married,  England  became  involved  in  war 
with  France;  and  in  the  course  of  that  war  Calais  was 
captured  by  the  French,  and  never  after  regained  by 
the  English.  Whatever  else  she  was,  Mary  was  a  true 
Englishwoman  and  a  Tudor,  and  she  once  said  that  if 
any  one  could  take  out  her  heart  and  look  at  it,  the 
name  of  Calais  would  be  found  written  on  it.  This 
blow,  added  to  her  other  griefs,  was  too  much  for  her, 
and  the  worn-out,  wretched,  and  almost  insane  woman 
died. 

OUTLINE. 

Katharine  of  Arragon's  daughter,  Mary  the  Catholic,  becomes 
Queen.  She  marries  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and  restores  Catholicism 
in  England.     The  "  burnings  "  and  their  result.     Death  of  Mary. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  relation  was  Mary  to  Philip  ?  on  what  conditions  was 
the  marriage  made  ?     Were  these  conditions  observed  ? 

2.  What  became  of  the  lands  of  the  monasteries .'' 

3.  How  was  Calais  won  ?  and  when  ?  how  was  it  lost  ? 


ENGLAND 

AND 

WALES. 

14S4  - 1003. 

ThetouudftrJes  of  the  "Welsh  Counties 
are  given  m  settled  in  1M3. 
Berwick  0     ip    20  4p  gp  80  1Q( 

SCALE  OF  MILES. 


/> 


Furnegg  AbbejKyy^SFoU'oterns^^^ 


THIS  H 


E  A 


1  \y\o 

^  Whalle5\Mb«y  ^^ 


ScartMlrough 

Idllngton 


S  E  A 


Liverpool 


Hul 


»ter  j 

'    LINCOLN 


,->     HAM    /,■  JUl^-oUi 

1      -^3^    /  ;?^.  •••-••-;a         !N(rttiii^ham9^S'toJfe  -        \/>tV 

lE^IONETH..--    V    ^  •fvStAFF^ 


:sl^ford>,A/  °Wald 

,4>M\/X,',M,K.ao,,NMrwicl 


p^J^>R  aS,  N  0  R><4  /uifetJ-^WAfe^'^J'.J^^^  -FraSungli., 


'Haven 


Bristol  i^hannel   :^^^u>n»u5Wr8i^F^  ^-"-""^^  S-^'^^-^De.! 

-.^'^Bftleford'.J.-l     ^-K,  -O  --r^     i  (     Twinc^ter-'J  ---....OTenter^ 

SilMlliaiii'lit 


' — ,  T»untonl<^_ 

,.  ;  -^DORSET 

I  ExctPi^ 
Te^mouthf^    '"Wejintnit 


Faliiiuuth  ''*^*^ 

StKerern  |      "^^ 


:E  n  (/   ?    i   «  '' 


c  n  r  •' 


L*.    W.  tXB.gUffALO. 


I>oligltii<lc  Went     0°   Longitude  East 


LONGMANS,  GREEN  «.C0.,  NEW  YORK 


1558.]  CHARACTER  OF  THE  REIGN.  I33 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

ELIZABETH. 
1 558-1603. 

IT  has  been  customary  to  speak  of  Queen  Mary  as 
"  Bloody  Mary,"  and  of  Queen  Elizabeth  as  "  Good 
Queen  Bess. "  The  truth  is  that  they  were  very  much 
alike.  Both  were  cunning,  deceitful  women,  Elizabeth 
being  by  far  the  abler.  Mary  was  almost  of 
necessity  a  believer  in  the  Pope's  supremacy,  terofthe 
while  all  Elizabeth's  interests  pointed  in  the  '^^'^"* 
other  direction.  In  religion,  apart  from  this  question 
of  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  Elizabeth  seems  to  have 
thought  herself  a  good  Catholic.  She  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  those  who  wished  even  a  moderate  refor- 
mation of  the  church  service.  During  the  first  part 
of  her  reign,  at  all  events,  she  had  religious  service 
in  her  chapel  with  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  But  she  was  determined  that  the 
Church  of  England  should  be  separated  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  as  it  had  been  separated  in 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  Elizabeth  inherited  from  her 
father  all  his  great  powers  of  government  and  of  state 
management.  Like  him,  she  knew  how  to  surround 
herself  with  strong,  able  men,  and,  like  him,  she  knew 
how  to  place  on  their  shoulders  the  responsibility  of 
questionable  or  unpopular  actions.  In  her  dealings 
with  the  Parliament  and  with  the  nation  she  was  as 


134 


ELIZABETH. 


11558^ 


QUEEN    ELrZABETH    IN    1 588  :     AFTER   A   DRAWING   BY 
ISAAC  OLIVER. 


155^.]  WILLIAM  CECIL,   LORD  BURLEIGH.  I35 

arbitrary  as  her  father  had  been,  but  she  also  knew 
when  to  yield.  Her  reign,  therefore,  was  one  of  the 
most  successful,  if  not  the  most  successful,  in  English 
history.  A  moderate  reformation  was  effected  in  the 
Church,  though  her  refusal  to  go  a  step  farther  pre- 
vented  that  Church  from  ever  becoming  national  ex- 
cept in  name,  and  gave  rise  to  the  Puritan  opposition, 
of  which  we  shall  learn  more  hereafter.  Then  by  her 
steady  refusal  to  go  to  war,  except  in  self-defence, 
Elizabeth  gave  to  England  a  long  period  of  compara- 
tive peace,  at  a  time  when  great  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries were  coming  into  common  use,  and  while 
England's  commercial  rivals  were  engaged  in  the  most 
destructive  of  all  wars,  those  for  religion.  This  gave 
England  a  chance  to  grow  so  strong  that  when  the 
struggle  came,  as  it  did  come,  even  the  power  of  Philip 
of  Spain  could  not  harm  her.  This  period  of  growth 
also  enabled  England  to  take  that  lead  in  commerce 
and  the  arts  of  peace  which  she  has  ever  since  main- 
tained. More  important,  perhaps,  than  the  progress  in 
these  various  directions  were  the  reforms  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  government.  Elizabeth's  reign,  too,  is 
renowned  as  the  time  of  Shakspere  and  the  other 
writers  of  the  Golden  Age  of  English  Literature. 

Elizabeth  was  undoubtedly  a  great  ruler.  But  she 
had  in  her  service  men  whose  counsel  more,  perhaps, 
than  her  own  powers,  kept  England  free  from  wiiiiam 
foreign  entanglements,  and  permitted  the  nation  Lord 
to  work  out  its  own  salvation.  Chief  of  these  Burleigh, 
was  William  Cecil,  afterwards  Lord  Burleigh.  He 
had  been  Elizabeth's  adviser  even  before  she  became 
queen.  To  his  counsel  it  is  probably  due  that  she  had 
held  aloof  from  the  plots  of  Mary's  time,  and  could 


136 


ELIZABETH. 


[1558 


never  be  connected  directly  with  them.  These  plots 
had  always  revolved  about  her,  their  aim  having  been 
to  set  her  upon  her  sister's  throne  :  yet  she  could  never 


WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE:    FROM  THE   BUST  ON    HIS  TOMB    AT 
STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 

be  implicated.  If  much  of  this  good  fortune  was  due 
to  Cecil,  as  much  was  probably  due  to  Elizabeth's 
own  cunning  and  power  of  deceit.     Indeed,  no  English 


1558]  THE  CALVINISTS.  I37 

sovereign  seems  to  have  excelled  her  in  this  ability  to 
deceive.  It  was  partly  born  in  her;  but  the  circum- 
stances of  her  early  life  were  congenial  to  its  growth. 
In  fact,  after  her  coronation,  she  and  Cecil  had  need 
of  all  their  ability  and  shrewdness  to  keep  their  country 
free.  Never  had  the  position  of  England  and  Eng- 
land's ruler  been  more  precarious  than  during  the  first 
thirty  years  of  this  reign. 

The  hardest  task  Elizabeth  and  Cecil  had  to  face  was 
the  reformation  of  religion.  Elizabeth  was  declared  to 
be  the  supreme  governor  of  the  Church  in  Eng-  The 
land.  Thirty-nine  articles  of  faith  were  drawn  ^^'^"•"'^'^ 
up,  and  a  service-book  was  put  forth.  This  England, 
last  was  based  on  that  of  Cranmer.  The  service  was 
to  be  in  English.  By  the  Act  of  Uniformity  this  book 
was  required  to  be  used  in  all  churches  throughout  the 
land,  and  no  other  service  was  allowed.  Any  one  not 
attending  the  regular  church  was  fined.  It  seems  that 
Elizabeth  and  Cecil  wished  to  build  up  a  really 
national  Church,  and  to  have  a  form  of  service  that  all 
might  attend.  Thus  the  celebration  of  the  mass  was 
forbidden,  and  the  service  was  to  be  read  in  English. 
Th's  was  to  please  the  advanced  reformers.  Then,  to 
please  the  Catholics,  the  dress  of  the  clergy  and  many 
ceremonies  disliked  by  the  radicals  were  retained. 
And  Elizabeth  always  disliked  the  marriage  of  the 
clergy.  In  fact,  she  wished  to  take  a  position,  between 
the  two  extremes,  which  her  father  had  occupied.  But 
the  times  had  changed.  Mary's  harshness  hadTheCai- 
driven  many  to  the  Continent.  There  these  ^'"'^*=*- 
exiles  became  intimate  with  the  Calvinists  and  other 
advanced  reformers.  It  is  important  to  understand 
what  Calvin's  doctrines  really  were,  for  their  influence 


138  ELIZABETH.  [i559 

upon    England,  and  upon   our  own  country  also,   has 
been  immense. 

First  of  all,  Calvin  was  a  religious  reformer.  As 
such  he  went  far  beyond  Luther  in  his  plans,  and 
wished  to  throw  away  all  the  ceremonies  and  associa- 
tions which  had  grown  up  around  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  except  such  as  were  commanded  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. But  it  is  as  a  social  reformer  that  he  is  more 
interesting  to  us.  He  desired  to  remodel  society,  so 
that  it  might  represent  the  society  described  in  the  Old 
Testament.  He  thus  introduced  a  form  of  government 
which  was  then  new  in  Europe.  He  thought  that  all 
society,  whether  in  church  or  state,  should  be  founded 
on  the  individual  man.  He  believed  that  the  best 
form  of  government  would  be  obtained  through  men 
collected  in  congregations,  and  through  congregations 
governed  by  elected  councils.  The  heads  of  a  Church 
founded  on  this  model  would  be  supreme  in  the  land. 
They  could  explain  the  law  of  God  to  king  or  peasant. 
The  power  of  these  men  proceeded  from  below,  and  the 
historian  John  Richard  Green  has  th^^ore  said :  "  It 
is  in  Calvinism  that  the  modern  world  strikes  its  roots; 
for  it  was  Calvinism  that  first  revealed  the  dignity  of 
man."  This  equality  of  baron  and  shoemaker  before 
the  law  of  God  and  man  is  the  basis  of  all  democratic 
society;  but  it  is  really  incompatible  with  monarchy. 
Now  these  ideas  of  Calvin  were  being  introduced  into 
England  by  the  reformers  returning  from  abroad,  and 
The  numbers  of  men  were  eagerly  accepting  them. 
Puritans,  f  hcsc  men  were  called  Puritans,  because  they 
wished  to  purify  the  Church.  They  regarded  them- 
selves as  good  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
They  had  no  desire  to  separate  from  that  Church,  but 


I559J  THE   ROMAN   CATHOLICS.  1 39 

only  refused  to  conform  to  all  its  ceremonies.  For  exam- 
ple, the  use  of  the  surplice  was  to  them  very  distaste- 
ful, as  it  reminded  them  of  the  Pope  and  their  former 
connection  with  the  Roman  Church.  They  disliked 
many  other  ceremonies  which  were  retained,  but  in  all 
matters  of  doctrine  they  seem  to  have  believed  very 
much  as  did  other  members  of  the  Church.  As  time 
went  on,  other  sects  arose.  Especially  there  were 
some  Puritans  who  went  farther  than  the  great  mass  of 
them  were  then  willing  to  go.  They  refused  longer  to 
remain  in  the  Church,  and  separated  from  it,  and  were 
hence  called  Separatists,  and  were  also  known  as  Brown- 
ists,  from  the  name  of  an  early  leader.  But  the  Puri- 
tans, whether  merely  Nonconformists  or  Separatists, 
saw  that  in  Elizabeth's  continued  occupation  of  the 
throne  lay  their  only  chance  for  safety,  or  even  for  tol- 
eration of  any  kind.  The  next  heir  to  the  throne  was 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and  she  was  an  ardent  Catholic. 
So  the  Puritans  supported  Elizabeth  loyally,  although 
they  had  persecutions  to  endure  even  under  her.  In 
the  reign  of  King  James  these  persecutions  continued 
and  increased,  and  led,  some  years  later,  to  the  col- 
onization of  a  New  England  across  the  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

As  has  been  already  said,  the  Puritans  felt  the  need 
of  supporting    Elizabeth,   even    if   she   did    persecute 
them;  and  so  Elizabeth  and  Cecil  felt,  on  their   The 
side,  the  need  of  support  from  the  Puritans,  even   crtho- 
if  their  doctrines  tended  to  the  overthrow  of  gov-.  ^'*^^- 
ernment  by  king  and  bishop.      It  seems  probable  that 
at  her  accession  two-thirds  of  the  English  people  were 
Roman   Catholics.     Her   changes  in   the  services  were 
so  few  that  the  great  mass  of  them  attended  without 


I40  ELIZABETH.  [i559- 

difficulty  the  new  service.  It  is  said,  indeed,  that 
only  two  hundred  out  of  nine  thousand  priests  resigned 
their  Hvings.  In  time,  as  the  old  priests  died,  and 
others  took  their  places,  a  gradual  change  came  over 
the  Church,  and  men  almost  without  knowing  it  be- 
came really  Protestant.  But  a  powerful  minority 
remained  true  to  the  old  faith.  To  them  the  divorce 
of  Katharine  of  Arragon,  Mary's  mother,  had  been 
illegal,  and  Elizabeth  had  no  right  to  the  English 
throne.  To  them,  therefore,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was 
the  real  queen  of  England,  Elizabeth  being  a  usurper 
whom  it  was  their  duty  to  overthrow.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign,  however,  it  happened,  fortunately  for 
Elizabeth,  that  her  good- will  was  necessary  to  Philip  II., 
King  of  Spain,  and  so  she  was  given  time  to  consolidate 
her  power  before  any  further  struggle  came. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Scots  married  their  queen 
to  the  French  Dauphin.  In  1559  he  became  king  of 
France,   though  he   ruled   only  a   year.     If  his 

Philip  II.  1111 

queen  should  become  queen  of  England  too, 
France,  Scotland,  and  England  would  be  united  under 
one  ruler.  That  was  something  Philip  of  Spain  could 
not  allow,  and  he  offered  to  marry  Elizabeth.  But 
she  could  not  consent,  without  recognizing  the  right 
of  the  Pope  to  grant  a  dispensation.  This  of  course 
she  could  not  consistently  do,  and  the  project  fell 
through.  But  for  many  years  Philip  and  Elizabeth 
remained    the   best   of    friends.     In    1560   Francis    II. 

died,  and  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  returned  to 
Queen  of  Scotland.     Before  long  she  married  her  cousin. 

Lord  Darnley.  Their  child  was  afterwards 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  I.  of  England.  But  be- 
fore long,  Darnley  was  murdered,  and   in  1568  Mary 


[560.] 


MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS. 


141 


MARY,   QUEEN    OF   SCOTS:    FROM  THE   MEMORIAL   PORTRAIT 

DONE   IMMEDIATELY   AFTER    HER   DEATH,   AND 

NOW   AT   WINDSOR   CASTLE. 


fled  to  England  and  asked  protection  from  her  kins- 
woman Elizabeth.  Now  we  really  know  very  little 
about  Mary,  except  that  she  was  beautiful,  fascinating, 


14-  ELIZABETH.  [1568. 

and  inherited  the  Scottish  throne  by  clear  right.  Some 
people  say  that  she  was  an  accomplice  in  Darnley's 
murder,  and  rewarded  the  murderer,  Bothwell,  by  mar- 
rying him.  Others  tell  a  somewhat  different  story. 
She  may  not  have  been  so  bad  as  many  think,  but  she 
probably  was  false  and  treacherous.  At  all  events, 
she  did  not  gain  much  by  coming  to  England.  Eliza- 
beth alone  would  certainly  have  been  a  match  for  her. 
But  with  Elizabeth,  Cecil,  and  Walsingham  leagued 
together  against  her,  Mary  of  Scotland  was  doomed 
from  the  first. 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  this  part  of  Elizabeth's 
reign.  But  if  a  few  points  are  kept  in  mind,  the  story 
Foreign  will  uot  sccm  SO  Complicated  as  it  at  first  sight 
policy.  iQQks.  As  yet  the  fate  of  English  Protestantism 
hung  on  Elizabeth's  life.  Parliament  urged  her  to 
marry,  or  at  least  to  name  a  successor.  Both  these 
things  she  steadily  refused  to  do.  To  us  looking 
backward  it  is  now  clear  that  this  was  wise.  As 
long  as  Mary  was  the  next  heir  to  the  throne,  she 
was  almost  compelled  to  keep  quiet,  that  she  might 
become  queen  on  Elizabeth's  death.  Elizabeth  de- 
clined, therefore,  to  name  any  one  else  as  her  succes- 
sor, and  either  from  jealousy  or  for  some  other  cause, 
refused  to  name  Mary.  For  the  same  reason  Elizabeth 
was  unwilling  to  marry.  Should  she  marry  a  foreigner 
like  Philip,  there  was  sure  to  be  trouble  of  one  kind  or 
another.  Should  she  marry  an  Englishman,  all  other 
Englishmen  of  equal  rank  would  be  offended.  So  she 
would  marry  no  one,  though  she  held  out  great  hopes 
to  many.  Then  with  regard  to  foreign  relations,  at 
first  sight  her  whole  policy  seems  in  confusion,  Eliza- 
beth doing  this  thing  to-day,  that  to-morrow.     But  she 


J 570.]  ROMAN  CATHOLIC   PLOTS.  143 

had  a  difficult  part  to  play,  to  keep  on  the  good  side 
of  France  and  Spain,  and  at  the  same  time  to  do  all 
in  her  power  to  hurt  and  weaken  them.  It  happened 
that  the  religious  wars  in  foreign  countries  were  a 
great  help  to  her,  for  they  kept  the  foreigners  so  busy 
at  home  that  there  was  no  time  to  attack  England.  In 
France  the  Protestants,  or  Huguenots,  were  struggling 
for  existence,  and  Elizabeth  sent  aid  to  them  in  va- 
rious ways,  though  really  she  aided  them  as  little  as 
possible.  As  long  as  the  Huguenots  seemed  to  be 
doing  well,  she  acted  rather  defiantly  with  regard  to 
Spain.  But  when  the  Catholics  began  to  get  the 
upper  hand  in  France  there  was  nothing  too  good  to 
be  said  to  Philip.  At  last  the  Protestants  of  the 
Netherlands  revolted  against  Spain.  This  was  a  great 
help  to  Elizabeth,  and  she  encouraged  them  with 
money,  for  whose  repayment  she  took  possession  of 
certain  towns.  Beyond  that  she  would  not  go.  So  in 
every  way  Elizabeth  had  to  be  very  careful,  and  the 
Pope  was  not  long  in  adding  to  her  cares. 

Mary  had  hardly  arrived  in  England  before  the 
Roman  Catholics  formed  plots  to  put  her  on  the  throne. 
The  earlier  plots  were  put  down,  and  Mary  was  ^^^^^ 
kept  in  strict  confinement.  But  in  1570  the  Catholic 
Catholics  were  roused  to  action  by  a  bull,  or  ^°^' 
proclamation,  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  excommunicating 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  releasing  her  subjects  from 
their  allegiance.  Priests  and  emissaries  of  all  kinds 
were  sent  to  England  to  stir  up  the  Catholics  and  tc 
recall  the  lukewarm  Protestants  to  their  ancient  faith. 
The  nation  was  called  upon  to  take  sides  in  religion, 
and  it  took  the  Protestant  side.  This  bull  roused 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  the  independent 


144  ELIZABETH.  [1570. 

Spirit  of  the  English  people,  and  England  was  lost  to 
the  Roman  Church.  From  that  moment  there  was 
little  hope  of  recalling  her  to  the  old  faith  by  peaceful 
means.  Plots  were  discovered  to  assassinate  the 
queen,  and  a  panic  swept  through  England.  These 
schemes  were  made,  of  course,  in  the  interest  of  Mary, 
and  Parliament  wished  to  put  her  out  of  the  way  by 
a  Bill  of  Attainder,  as  though  she  were  an  English 
subject.  But  Elizabeth  would  not  consent.  While 
Mary  lived,  she  felt  that  there  would  be  peace.  But  an 
association  was  formed  for  the  queen's  protection,  and 
to  avenge  her  death  in  case  she  should  be  murdered. 
Severer  laws  were  made  against  the  Catholics,  and  the 
fines  against  non-attendance  at  the  authorized  service 
were  enormously  increased.  There  seems  to  have  been 
little  attempt  made  to  carry  out  these  laws  against 
Court  of  laymen.  But  woe  to  the  priests  who  fell  into 
Commis-  ^^^  hands  of  the  Government!  For  them  a 
sion.  special  court  was  set  up.  Elizabeth  was  the 
supreme  governor  of  the  English  Church,  and  she 
delegated  a  portion  of  her  authority  to  a  commission 
consisting  of  the  archbishop  and  other  leading  men, 
ordering  them  to  inquire  into  and  punish  offences 
against  the  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity.  Be- 
fore this  court  the  accused  person  was  brought,  and 
compelled  to  answer  under  oath  whatever  questions 
might  be  asked  him.  Those  who  did  not  answer  were 
tortured.  All  forms  of  law  and  all  the  safeguards  of 
English  liberty  were  forgotten.  While  this  great 
engine  of  oppression  was  directed  against  the  Catho- 
lics only,  there  was  little  outcry.  When,  however,  it 
was  later  used  against  the  Puritans  it  aroused  fierce 
opposition.     Neither   the   queen  nor  the   archbishops 


1586.]  EXECUTION  OF  MAHV.  14^ 

seem  to  have  cared  very  much  about  a  man's  thoughts, 
but  they  were  determined  he  should  keep  them  to  him- 
self, unless  they  were  in  harmony  with  the  ideas  of 
the  Church.  This  the  Puritans  refused  to  do.  They 
preached  and  taught  on  all  sides  as  long  as  they  were 
allowed  to  preach  and  teach.  In  truth,  it  was  not  long 
before  the  bishops  silenced  the  outspoken  ministers. 
The  Puritans  then  resorted  to  the  printing-press;  and 
as  nothing  could  be  printed  without  the  consent  of  the 
archbishop,  they  used  a  press  which  was  kept  moving 
about  the  country.  It  seemed  as  though  nothing  could 
stop  these  attacks  on  the  bishops  and  the  English 
Church.  The  most  famous  pamphlets  were  signed 
Martin  Mar-Prelate.  Even  to  this  day  the  name  of 
the  writer  is  not  known,  but  a  man  named  Penry  was 
executed  as  the  author. 

It  had  been  impossible  to  connect  Mary  directly  with 
any  of  the  earlier  plots  to  kill  the  queen.  But  in  1586 
the  Government  was  able,  by  its  spies,  to  prove 
that  Mary  knew  of  a  plan  to  assassinate  her.  tionof 
Whether  the  plot  really  existed  is  not  abso- Queen  of 
lutely  clear.  Some  writers  have  thought  it  was  *^°*^' 
merely  a  scheme  got  up  by  the  Government  to  entrap 
Mary.  At  all  events  she  was  convicted,  and,  Eliza- 
beth's consent  having  been  obtained,  was  executed. 
What  Elizabeth  had  feared  now  came  to  pass.  Mary, 
disliking  her  son,  who  was  a  Protestant,  left  her  claims 
to  the  throne  of  England  to  Philip  of  Spain,  and  he 
at  once  set  about  making  them  good.  There  were 
other  and  perhaps  stronger  causes  that  made  him 
attack  England.  Elizabeth  had  sent  aid  to  the  Dutch; 
and  the  English  sailors,  led  'by  men  like  Hawkins 
and    Drake,    were    endangering    the    Spanish    control 

10 


146  ELIZABETH.  [1588. 

of  the  West  Indies  and  the  Pacific  coast  of  America. 
The  English  were  also  beginning  to  found  colonies  on 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America,  though  up  to  this 
time  their  settlements  had  not  been  successful.  So 
Philip  decided  to  send  a  great  fleet  to  England,  and 
with  it  the  army  which,  under  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
had  been  fighting  in  the  Netherlands.  It  had  been 
intended  to  send  this  Armada  against  England  in  1587, 
and  provisions  and  ships  were  actually  gathered  at 
Cadiz.  But  the  English  under  Drake. sailed  into  the 
harbor  one  day,  and  destroyed  so  many  of  the  vessels 
and  so  much  of  the  provisions  that  the  attempt  was 
The  In-  abandoned  for  that  year.  The  next  year,  1588, 
vincible    the    Armada   actually    sailed   from    Lisbon   for 

Armada.  •' 

Dunkirk,  where  the  army  was  to  join  it,  and  a 
joint  descent  was  to  be  made  on  the  English  coast. 
The  Armada  numbered  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
vessels,  most  of  them  large  ships. 

At  that  time  England  had  only  a  few  regular  war- 
ships. When  the  queen  wanted  vessels  she  called 
upon  the  seaport  towns  to  furnish  them.  This  was 
not  so  difficult  then  as  it  would  be  now,  for  in  those 
rough  days  all  vessels  were  obliged  to  go  armed  to 
protect  themselves  from  sea-robbers  and  pirates.  So  a 
numerous  fleet  of  vessels  of  all  kinds  was  collected,  and 
with  it  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham,  Elizabeth's  kins- 
man, went  forth  to  meet  the  great  Armada.  With  him 
were  Hawkins  and  Drake  and  others  experienced  in 
fighting  on  the  water.  At  the  same  time  two  large 
armies  were  made  ready  on  shore  to  repel  the  Spaniard 
if  he  should  attempt  a  landing.  The  Armada  was  soon 
seen  sailing  up  the  Channel  in  the  form  of  a  crescent. 
Constantly  attacking  it,  the  English  cut  off  and  captured 


I588.J 


THE  INVINCIBLE  ARxMADA. 


H7 


SIR    FRANCIS    DRAKE,    IN    HIS    FORTY-THtRD   YEAR:    FROM   THE 
ENGRAVINd    BY    ELSTRACKE. 


or  sank  every  ship  that  lagged  behind.  The  Spaniards 
then  anchored  off  Calais.  But  the  English  sent  fire- 
ships   amon^   them^    and   compelled    them    to   weigh 


148  ELIZABETH.  [1588. 

anchor  and  run  northward.  The  English  fleet  had  by 
this  time  increased  to  perhaps  one  hundred  and  forty 
vessels  of  all  kinds  and  sizes.  Besides,  the  English  even 
then  were  great  sailors  and  sea-fighters;  their  ships 
sailed  faster  and  were  more  heavily  armed ;  and  their 
guns  were  better  aimed  than  were  those  of  the  Spaniards. 
Indeed,  it  seems  probable  that  had  Queen  Elizabeth 
been  able  to  provide  more  powder  and  provisions,  the 
English  would  have  completely  destroyed  the  Armada. 
As  it  was,  after  driving  the  Spaniards  to  the  north, 
the  English  turned  homeward,  and  many  sailors  who 
had  nobly  fought  for  their  country  and  religion  died  of 
starvation  on  the  way  back.  As  for  the  Spaniards, 
many  of  them  never  returned  home.  Trying  to  regain 
Spain  with  their  shattered  ships  by  the  north  of  Eng- 
land and  the  Irish  Channel,  they  were  met  by  a  furious 
storm.  Ship  after  ship  was  wrecked  on  the  coasts  of 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  it  is  said  that  of  that  mighty 
Armada  only  fifty-four  vessels  ever  returned  to  Spain. 
The  destruction  of  the  Armada  broke  the  power  of  that 
nation.  The  supremacy  of  the  seas  passed  into  other 
hands.  Even  with  that  supremacy  it  had  been  difficult 
for  her  to  hold  her  vast  empire  together.  From  this 
time  one  possession  after  another  was  torn  from  her 
grasp.  With  the  control  of  the  Channel  in  English 
hands,  troops  could  not  be  sent  to  the  Netherlands,  and 
the  independence  of  the  United  Provinces  was  assured. 
Another  Protestant  power  thus  arose  in  Europe,  des- 
tined ere  long  to  stand  side  by  side  with  England  in 
the  struggle  for  liberty.  From  the  day  when  Drake 
chased  the  Armada  north  from  Calais,  England's 
power  has  gone  on  ever  increasing,  till  on  her  empire, 
exceeding  in  extent  even  that  of  the    second   Philip, 


1494]  "  POYNINGS'    LAW."  I49 

the  sun  never  sets.  We  must  now  turn  from  this 
glorious  scene,  and  begin  our  study  of  the  most  miser- 
able chapter  in  England's  history,  —  her  misgovern- 
ment  of  Ireland. 

As  far  back  as  the  times  of  the  Normans  there  had 
been  some  kind  of  an  assertion  of  the  right  of  the 
English  king  to  bo  considered  the  ruler,  or  ^, 
"overlord,"  of  Ireland.  But  the  relations  be-  ings' 
tween  the  two  islands  and  the  two  peoples  did  ^^*" 
not  become  close  till  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  It 
was  in  1494  that,  a  Parliament  of  some  kind  having 
met  at  Drogheda,  an  Act,  called  "  Poynings'  Law," 
named  after  the  English  king's  deputy,  was  passed. 
Hy  this  law  no  bill  could  be  brought  into  the  Irish 
Parliament  until  it  had  received  the  approval  of  the 
Government  in  England.  Thus  Ireland  was  put,  as 
far  as  legislation  went,  completely  under  subjection 
to  England.  During  Henry  VII I. 's  reign  little  at- 
tention was  paid  to  Ireland,  except  to  give  to  some 
of  the  Irish  chieftains  the  title  of  earl.  But  during 
the  minority  of  Edward  VI.  an  attempt  was  made 
to  establish  the  Reformed  Church  in  Ireland.  The 
attempt  was  a  failure  from  the  beginning, —  partly 
because  the  Irish  could  not  understand  the  service 
in  English  any  better  than  when  it  was  read  in  Latin, 
but  more  especially  because  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  was  well  suited  to  their  habits  and  needs. 
Of  course  the  attempt  was  abandoned  at  the  accession 
of  Mary. 

As  we  have  already  seen.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  deter- 
mined that  there  should  be  one  religion  in  England, 
and  only  one.  She  soon  became  equally  determined 
that  there  should  be  but  one  religion  in  England  and 


150  ELIZABETH.  (1590 

Ireland,  and  that  this  should  be  the  religion  pre- 
scribed by  the  English  Church,  of  which  she  was  the 
The  head.  So  the  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniform. 
Sthan  ity  were  extended  to  Ireland.  Wherever  English 
settle-      jg^^^  could  be  enforced  there,  the  Roman  Cath- 

ment  or  ' 

Ireland.  q\iq  clergy  wcrc  turned  out,  and  Protestants  put 
in  their  places.  It  was  very  difficult  to  get  good  men 
to  go  to  Ireland,  in  fact  difficult  to  get  any  one  to  go. 
It  resulted  that  in  many  places  the  churches  went  to 
ruin,  and  no  services  were  held  at  all.  English  law, 
however,  could  be  enforced  only  in  a  very  small  part 
of  Ireland.  In  the  rest  the  Roman  Catholic  service 
was  kept  up.  The  Protestant  Established  Church  was 
weak  from  the  beginning,  and  was  an  object  of  con- 
tempt and  hatred  to  the  bulk  of  Irishmen.  Thus  was 
introduced  an  element  of  discord  which  has  lasted  to 
our  own  time. 

There  were  other  causes  of  jealousy.  At  this  time 
Ireland  was  under  the  control  of  three  families,  — the 
Geraldines,  descended  from  the  Norman  Fitz-Gerald; 
the  Butlers;  and  the  De  Burghs,  or  Burkes.  Now,  of 
these,  the  Butlers,  led  by  Ormond,  were  Protestant, 
while  the  Geraldines,  headed  by  Kildare  and  Desmond, 
were  Catholics.  The  opposing  forces  were  so  arranged 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Butlers  to  be  of  much 
use  to  the  English,  cut  off  as  they  were  by  the  Ge- 
raldines from  the  English  part  of  the  island.  It  was 
now  proposed  to  send  over  English  colonists  to  occupy 
a  large  portion  of  the  lands  of  Desmond,  he  having 
relinquished  his  title  to  escape  being  tried  for  treason. 
It  was  hoped  also  that  the  courts  would  find  defects  in 
the  titles  to  much  more  land  held  by  the  Irish.  In 
this  way  it  ^yas  thought  to  make  a  large  portion  of  the 


1598-1603.]  ELIZABETH'S   LAST   YEARS.  I51 

island  English.  But  the  first  attempts  were  failures. 
To  take  an  Irishman's  land  was  to  touch  him  in  the 
tenderest  part.  A  fearful  insurrection  broke  out  in 
Munstcr  in  1569,  and  ten  years  later  in  Connaught. 
Both  were  put  down  with  the  greatest  severities  and 
almost  unheard-of  cruelties.  In  the  northern  province 
alone  was  the  colonization  a  success.  There  was 
already  a  colony  of  Scots  there;  and  Essex,  the  leader 
of  the  English  in  the  enterprise,  was  an  exceedingly 
able  man.  By  1584  the  English  were  supreme  cnrough- 
out  the  island,  though  at  a  tremendous  cost  in  suffering 
to  the  Irish. 

When  the  Armada  had  been  driven  away  from  Eng- 
land, Elizabeth  was  already  an  old  woman.  She  had 
reigned  thirty  years,  and  the  men  whose  advice  Eiiza- 
and  help  had  so  far  made  her  reign  a  success  j^^^^^ 
were  rapidly  passing  away.  Leicester,  her  ^^^""^ 
favorite  though  incompetent  commander,  died  while 
the  rejoicings  over  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  were  still 
ringing  in  his  ears.  Sir  Walter  Mildmay,  the  founder 
of  the  Puritan  College  of  Emmanuel  at  Cambridge, 
—  the  college  from  which  our  own  Harvard  is  in 
a  manner  descended,  —  died  in  1589.  Walsingham, 
whose  marvellous  skill  in  ferreting  out  plots  had  saved 
Elizabeth's  life  more  than  once,  followed  in  1591. 
Finally,  in  1598,  after  forty  years  of  service  such  as 
few  men  have  given  to  their  sovereign  and  country, 
William  Cecil,  Lord  Burleigh,  passed  away.  Young 
men  were  now  coming  to  the  front.  Prominent 
among  them  was  Robert  Cecil,  Burleigh's  son.  His 
most  formidable  rival  was  Robert  Devereux,  Earl  of 
Essex.  Essex  was  not  in  any  sense  a  statesman,  but 
he  had  succeeded  to  Leicester's  place  in  the  queen's 


15: 


ELIZABETH. 


1:1598-1603. 


affections,  and  become  her  favorite.  Essex  rapidly 
rose  to  prominence.  In  1596  he  and  Lord  Howard 
of  Effingham  led  a  successful  expedition  against  Cadiz. 
But  Essex  did  not  gain  all  the  advantages  from  this 


WILLIAM   CECIL,   LORD   BURLEIGH,   K.  G.,  11520-1591:   FROM   A 
PAINTING    IN    THE   BODLBIAN    LIBRARY,    OXFORD. 


success  that  he  had  expected,  as  most  of  the  credit 
was  given  to  Lord  Howard.  It  is  related  that  some 
time  after  this,  in  1598,  when  the  appointment  of  a 
deputy  for  Ireland  was  being  discussed  in  the  council, 
the  queen  said  something  displeasing  to  Essex.  He 
turned  his  back  on  her,   which   so  enraged  Elizabeth 


I598-I0O3J  ELIZABETH'S   LAST  YEARS.  1S3 

that  she  gave  him  a  sound  box  on  the  ear.  This  story 
may  be  true  or  not,  but  one  thing  is  certain,  that  when 
Burleigh  died,  in  the  same  year,  it  was  Robert  Cecil, 
and  not  Essex,  who  succeeded  to  his  place  and  power. 
The  next  year  Essex  went  to  Ireland  as  deputy. 
There  he  used  his  power  in  a  very  mysterious  manner. 
Exactly  what  he  intended  is  not  clear.  Perhaps  he 
expected  to  create  a  government  for  himself  in  Ire- 
land. Perhaps  he  intended  to  use  the  Irish  army 
against  his  enemies  in  England.  At  all  events,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  hurry  back  to  England  and  try 
to  regain  the  queen's  regard.  But  with  all  her  love  of 
flattery,  Elizab;:;th  never  allowed  her  personal  feelings 
to  interfere  with  her  duties  as  queen.  Essex  was 
placed  under  restraint.  Gathering  about  him  several 
desperate  characters  (Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  among 
them),  he  tried  to  incite  the  Londoners  to  rebellion. 
The  attempt  failecl.  Gorges,  with  the  most  contemp- 
tible meanness,  betrayed  his  friend.  Essex  was  tried, 
condemned,  and  executed  for  treason.  Whether  he 
was  justly  executed  or  not,  Elizabeth  seems  never  to 
have  recovered  from  the  shock  of  his  ingratitude.  In 
1603  she  died,  having  lost,  in  these  later  years,  much  of 
her  former  popularity. 

OUTLINE. 

Mary's  sister  Elizabeth  becomes  queen.  Her  ability,  her  policy, 
and  her  advisers.  The  Elizabethan  reformation.  The  Puritans, 
and  their  dislike  of  Elizabeth's  ideas:  they  divide  into  Noncon- 
formists and  Separatists.     Elizabeth  and  the  Roman  Catholics. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots;  her  title  to  the  English  crown;  her  life 
and  flight  to  England.  Elizabeth's  dangerous  position ;  why  she 
refused  to  marry.  The  Pope  excommunicates  Elizabeth,  and  the 
English  people  as  a  whole  rally  to  her  support.     Persecution  of 


154  ELIZABETH. 

the  Roman  Catholics  and  execution  of  Mary.     The  defeat  of  the 
Spanish  Armada. 

The  Enghsh  in  Ireland :  "  Poynings'  Law  "  and  the  Elizabethan 
Settlement.     Elizabeth's  last  years  and  death. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  did  Elizabeth  desire  a  reformation  in  religion? 

2.  Name  three  of  the  greatest  men  of  her  reign  and  state  why 
you  pick  out  these  three. 

3.  Describe  Calvin's  ideas.    Why  were  they  hostile  to  monarchy  ? 

4.  What  relation  was  Mary  of  Scotland  to  Elizabeth  ? 

5.  Describe  Elizabeth's  persecution  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 

TOPICS. 

1.  The  Death  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.     Macaulay's  History  of 
England. 

2.  The  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada.    Barnes's  Drake  and  his 
Yeoman \  Kingsley's  H'estward Ho! 


STATE   OF   SOCIETY.  155 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

STATE    OF    SOCIETY. 

AS  we  have  already  seen,  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign 
was  very  remarkable  for  the  great  material  ad- 
vancement then  made  by  England.  Her  foreign  com- 
merce was  greatly  extended.  The  cruelties  of  the 
Spaniards  drove  many  (it  is  even  said  one  half)  com- 
of  the  merchants  of  Antwerp  to  London.  The  '"'^^*^^' 
decline  of  the  former  city  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
latter  date  from  this  time.  In  Queen  Elizabeth's  time, 
too,  the  port  of  Archangel  was  discovered,  and  a  trade 
with  Russia  opened.  The  East  India  Company  and 
others  like  it  were  formed  to  trade  with  foreign  parts, 
and  from  all  directions  wealth  and  luxuries  poured  into 
England.  There  was  at  the  same  time  a  great  expan- 
sion of  home  industry.  Hitherto  r^nglish  wool  had 
been  mainly  worked  up  outside  of  England  ;  now  the 
cloth  was  made  at  home.  The  same  was  true,  though 
in  a  less  degree,  of  the  manufactures  of  steel,  and  from 
this  time  on,  the  names  of  Manchester  and  Sheffield 
began  to  be  heard  more  and  more. 

The  country  had  been  so  long  free  from  civil  wars 
that  the  mode  of  domestic  architecture  had  undergone 
a  complete  change.  The  turreted  castle  gave  Archi- 
way  to  the  hall  of  the  Elizabethan  time.  Chim-  *^<^*"'^^- 
neys  took  the  place  of  the  hole  in  the  roof,  and  the 
master  no  longer  ate  with  his  dependants  in  the  great 
liall,  but  withdrew  to  his  parlor,  —  called  for  this  reason 


156 


STATE   OF  SOCIETY. 


a  withdrawing-room,  and  afterwards  a  drawing-room- 
Pewter  dishes  were  beginning  to  take  the  place  of  the 
old  wooden  trays,  though  forks  were  not  common  until 
some  time  after  Elizabeth's  death.      Nor  were  these 


COACHES    IN    THE   REIGN    OF   ELIZABETH        FROM    "  ARCH^OLOGIA. 


improvements  in  the  art  of  living  confined  to  the  very 
rich,  for  the  moderately  rich  class,  which  was  now 
coming  into  existence,  enjoyed  advantages  which  had 
been  denied  to  the  wealthiest  of  only  a  generation  or 
two  before.  The  lot  of  the  laboring  class^  however, 
(\\d  not  improve. 


THE   POOR   LAW.  157 

The  changes  in  agriculture  which  we  have  already 
described  had  gone  on  with  increasing  rapidity.  Un- 
doubtedly one  cause  of  this  was  the  fact  that  The  poor 
people  were  beginning  to  live  very  differently.  ^^^' 
But  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  had  much  to 
do  with  it.  The  monks  had  been  easy  landlords.  They 
had  taken  care  of  the  sick  and  poor  of  their  district, 
even  going  so  far  as  to  encourage  begging  by  their 
indiscriminate  giving.  All  this  was  now  stopped. 
The  new  owner  of  the  forfeited  monastery  lands  wished 
to  get  as  great  a  return  from  them  as  possible.  Some 
he  turned  into  sheep-walks,  the  rest  he  cultivated  with 
care,  employing,  either  by  himself  or  through  his  ten- 
ants, as  few  laborers  as  possible.  Masses  of  men  were 
thrown  out  of  work.  The  country  became  infested  by 
vagabonds  and  beggars.  Several  remedies  were  tried. 
At  last  it  was  determined  to  make  each  locality, 
whether  called  parish  or  town,  take  care  of  its  own 
poor.  In  this  way  the  old  principle  of  local  responsi- 
bility was  once  more  brought  into  use.  There  were 
other  reforms  in  the  same  direction,  but  this  making 
the  parishes  responsible  for  the  poor  within  their  own 
limits  is  the  most  important.  The  principal  law  was 
passed  in  1601,  and  remained  in  force  till  1834.  The 
immediate  effect  of  the  new  system  was  startling.  In 
the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  some  two  thousand  robbers  had 
been  hanged  each  year.  This  number  was  now  reduced 
to  three  or  four  hundred,  although  the  population  had 
greatly  increased. 

It  has  been  already  said  that  English  literature  was 
carried  to  a  high  point  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
Shakspcre  being  its  chief  ornament.  There  was  3 
vyhole  circle  of  authors, —  such  as  Marlowe,  Ben  Jonson, 


IS8 


STATE   OF   SOCIETY. 


Massinger,  Ford,  Chapman,  Beaumont,  and  Fletcher,  — 
who  have  never  since  been  equalled,  as  dramatic  poets, 
by  any  similar  group  in  any  other  age.  The  modern 
form  of  prose  fiction  had  not  yet  been  created ;  but 
people  were  fond  of  reading  long  narratives  of  imagi- 
nary adventure,  either  in  verse,  like  Spenser's  ''  Faerie 
Queene,"  or  in  prose,  like  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  *'  Arca- 
dia." Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  not  merely  a  great  ex- 
plorer, but  also  an  author;  and  wrote,  while  a  prisoner 
in  the  Tower  of  London,  his  "  History  of  the  World." 

Scott's  novel  of  "  Kenilworth "  gives  a  tolerably 
vivid  picture  of  the  society  and  manners  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan period ;  but  these  can  best  be  studied  in  the 
actual  literature  of  that  time. 


/V  MOUIfT^D   SOLPipi^:   FROM   A   BROADSIDE  PRINTED   IN    15^^ 


QUESTIONS.  159 

OUTLINE. 

Extension  of  English  commerce  in  Elizabeth's  reign  and  the 
beginning  of  manufacturing.  Houses  and  mode  of  living.  In- 
crease of  poverty;  the  Poor  Law  of  1601.  Literature  of  Eliza- 
beth's time. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  had  castles  given  place  to  undefended  houses?  Would 
you  like  to  live  in  a  castle? 

2.  What  was  the  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth  ?  Why  was  it  neces- 
sary? 

3.  Have  you  read  anything  in  Shakspere's  works  ?  What  wa<=; 
it  about  ? 

TOPIC. 

Look  up  Shakspere's  life  in  any  biographical  dictionary  and 
write  three  pages  about  him. 


l6o  JAMES  I.  [1603 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

JAMES    I. 
1603-1625. 

IT  was  well  understood  towards  the  end  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign  that  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  son  of 
Mary  of  Scotland,  and  descended  from  Henry  VIH.'s 
sister  Margaret,  would  be  Elizabeth's  successor.  After 
Elizabeth's  death  he  was  proclaimed  King  James  I.  of 
His  char-  England,  and  succeeded  to  the  throne  as  quietly 
^^■^^^'  as  had  any  heir-apparent  before  him.  It  is  a  cu- 
rious fact  that  although  he  was  the  son  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  attractive  princess  of  that  time,  James 
was  of  very  disagreeable  and  repulsive  appearance. 
His  face  was  plain  and  foolish,  with  a  tongue  so  large 
that  he  could  not  help  showing  it  all  the  time.  His 
legs  were  very  small  and  weak,  so  that  he  walked 
feebly  and  awkwardly;  and  this  was  noticed  by  the 
people  all  the  more,  because  he  wore  a  thick  padded 
coat,  for  fear  some  one  should  stab  him.  He  was  very 
timid,  and  also  false  and  obstinate,  so  that  he  was  un- 
popular in  character  as  well  as  peculiar  in  his  looks. 
He  had  been  well  educated,  and  had  a  good  deal  of 
learning;  but  he  had  very  little  common-sense,  and 
was  called  by  the  French  minister  Sully  "  the  wisest 
fool  in  Christendom." 

He   was    hardly  seated   on  his    new   throne    before 
plots  began  to  be  formed  against  him,   especially  by 


«IR  WAI.TKR  RALKKiH  ■  I55a-l6l8)  AND  MIS  ELDEST  S«^»N  WAITFR.   AT  THR  AGE  OF  FIGIITl 
FROM    A    riCTURB,   DATED    l6oa,    MtLONCING   TO  SIR   J.    P.    UUNNAKP.   BAKT. 


l62  JAMES   I.  [1605. 

the  enemies  of  Robert  Cecil,  his  Secretary  of  State. 
Amon*;  tliose  who  joined  in  the\sc  plots  was  the  cele- 
brated Sir  Walter  Kalei<^h,  so  well  known  for 
tionot  the  interest  he  took  in  explorinj^j  the  American 
'  continent.  The  plan  of  some  of  these  conspira- 
tors was  to  dethrone  James  I.  and  give  the  crown  to 
Lady  Arabella  Stuart,  who,  like  James,  was  descended 
from  IIenr\'  VII.  The  plot  did  not  succeed;  but  it 
gave  the  king  a  great  dislike  to  this  ladv,  and  when, 
some  years  later,  she  married  William  Seymour,  a  third 
descendant  of  tienry  VTI.,  James  thought  her  .so  dan- 
gerous that  he  had  her  shut  up  in  the  Tower,  where 
she  died  insane.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  also  .sent  to 
the  Tower,  and  lived  there  many  years,  writing  books, 
some  of  which  are  famous.  At  last,  in  1616,  the  king 
released  him,  that  he  might  take  command  of  an  expe- 
dition to  look  for  gold  mines  in  South  America.  But 
James,  with  his  usual  deceitfulness,  let  the  Spaniards, 
who  had  claimed  the  country  where  the  mines  were 
said  to  be,  know'  just  where  Raleigh  was  going,  so  that 
the  expedition  was  a  failure.  When  Raleigh  returned 
unsuccessful,  he  was  first  charged  with  misconduct  in 
regard  to  the  expedition,  and  then  the  old  complaint 
was  brought  up  against  him  that  he  had  plotted  against 
the  king;  and  on  this  last  charge  he  was  beheaded  at 
the  Old  Palace  Yard  in  Westminster.  The  king's  real 
object  was  to  please  the  Spaniards,  who  found  in 
Raleigh's  enterprise  a  great  danger  to  their  colonies. 

The  most  famous  of  these  plots  is  known  in  history 
as  the  "Gunpowder  Plot."  James's  mother,  it  must 
^,  ^  be  remembered,  was  a  Roman  Catholic:  and  be- 
i>owder  fore  he  became  king  of  England  he  wrote  to  a 
(ir.05).     prominent  Englishman  of  that  faith,  the  Earl  of 


f605.]  THE  GUNPOWDER  PLOT.  163 

Northumberland,  that  when  he  came  to  the  throne  no 
CathoHc  should  be  punished  for  religion's  sake.  Perhaps 
he  meant  it  sincerely,  and  for  a  time  the  Catholics 
were  well  treated.  But  the  king  soon  found  that 
there  was  in  England  a  strong  popular  feeling  against 
them,  and  that  he  himself  was  charged  with  being 
at  heart  of  their  faith.  When  he  found  out  this  fact, 
he  began  to  deny  that  he  had  ever  pledged  himself 
that  they  should  have  freedom  of  worship,  and  he 
ordered  his  lawyers  and  judges  to  enforce  the  severe 
laws  that  existed  against  all  who  refused  to  attend  the 
Protestant  services.  These  persons  were  called  under 
the  law  **  Popish  recusants,"  and  they  were  subject  to 
a  fine  of  ;^20  —  which  would  to-day  be  equivalent  to 
$500  —  for  each  month  when  they  had  failed  to  be 
present  at  the  services  of  the  Church  of  England. 
This  severe  persecution  led  to  the  formation  of  a 
plot,  led  by  Robert  Catesby,  who  belonged  to  one  of 
the  oldest  families  in  England,  to  blow  up  the  Parlia- 
ment House  at  a  time  when  the  king,  lords,  and  com- 
mons should  all  be  there  together.  "In  that  place," 
wrote  Catesby,  "they  have  done  us  all  the  mischief, 
and  perhaps  God  hath  designed  that  place  for  their 
punishment."  Catesby  had  followers,  of  whom  the 
best  known  is  Guy,  or  Guido,  Fawkes,  and  they  placed 
six  barrels  of  gunpowder  under  the  House  of  Lords 
without  being  detected.  Then,  while  waiting  for 
Parliament  to  assemble,  they  tried  to  hit  upon  a  plan 
by  which  the  Roman  Catholic  noblemen  could  be  kept 
away  from  the  House  of  Lords  and  their  lives  saved. 
But  it  was  finally  left  to  each  person  to  caution  those 
whom  he  thought  fit ;  and  thus  it  happened  that  Lord 
Mounteagle,  a  brother-in-law  of  one  of  the  conspira- 


1 64  JAMES   I.  [1605. 

tors,  just  as  he  was  sitting  down  to  supper  one  even- 
ing, received  a  note,  written  without  punctuation  or 
capitals,  advising  him  to  retire  into  the  country  for  a 
time.  "God  and  man  hath  concurred,"  this  strange 
note  said,  "to  punish  the  wickedness  of  this  time;" 
and  it  added,  "  though  there  be  no  appearance  of  any 
stir,  yet  to-day  they  shall  receive  a  terrible  blow, 
this  Parliament,  and  yet  they  shall  not  see  who  hurts 
them."  Lord  Mounteagle  sent  this  letter  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  and  the  very  night  before  Parliament 
was  to  assemble,  a  search  was  made,  and  the  gunpow- 
der was  found,  with  Guy  Fawkes  standing  guard  over 
it.  Fawkes,  on  being  seized,  said  to  the  man  who 
arrested  him  that  if  he  had  only  had  the  chance,  he 
would  have  blown  him  up,  his  house,  himself,  and  alL 
When  tortured  in  the  Tower,  he  confessed  the  truth, 
saying  that  he  meant  to  have  blown  up  king,  lords, 
bishops,  and  ,all  the  rest.  He  gave  the  names  of  tho 
other  conspirators,  and  they  were  all  put  to  death. 
This  made  the  greatest  excitement,  and  led  to  still 
severer  laws  against  the  Catholics,  most  unwisely  and 
unjustly,  for  it  was  the  cruelty  of  the  laws  that  first 
led  to  the  plot ;  and  although  the  conspirators  were 
Catholics,  Lord  Mounteagle,  who  foiled  them,  was  of 
the  same  religion.  This  happened  Nov.  5,  1605;  and 
to  this  day,  in  some  parts  of  England,  it  is  the  custom 
to  make  bonfires  on  that  anniversary,  and  to  burn  a 
stuffed  image  of  Guy  Fawkes,  singing  this  rhyme: 

"  Remember,  remember  the  Fifth  of  November, 
Gunpowder  Treason  and  plot; 
I  see  no  reason  why  Gunpowder  Treason 
Should  ever  be  forgot." 

It  shows  how  long  traditions  last,  that  within  a  few 


i6ii.]  HAMPTON   COURT   CONFERENCE.  1 65 

years,    on    the    banks    of    the    Merrimack     River    in 
Massachusetts,  these  bonfires  have  still  been  made. 

As  the  king  was  always  in  trouble  with  the  Roman 
Catholics,  so  the  same  want  of  frankness  kept  him 
always  in  trouble  with  the  Puritans.  They  xhe 
presented  to  the  king  a  petition  stating  the  ^^""t-"'"''- 
wishes  of  nearly  a  thousand  persons  for  changes  in 
Church  usages.  As  James's  early  years  had  been 
passed  in  Presbyterian  Scotland,  they  had  reason  to 
think  that  he,  at  least,  would  not  be  a  very  strict 
Episcopalian,  and  would  treat  them  fairly.  On  receiv- 
ing this  petition  he  called  a  conference  between  the 
Puritans  and  the  High  Churchmen,  as  those  were 
called  who  opposed  the  request.  The  conference  was 
held  at  Hampton  Court,  and  the  king  himself  presided. 
From  the  beginning  he  took  sides  entirely  with  the 
Episcopalians,  and  with  the  bishops  who  represented 
them,  and  he  said  fiercely  of  the  Puritans,  "  I  will  make 
them  conform,  or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land." 
But  although  the  Puritans  got  no  fair  treatment  from 
this  conference,  the  assembly  had  one  good  result,  — 
an  English  translation  of  the  Bible,  better  than  any 
that  had  yet  appeared.  Forty-seven  clergymen,  it  is 
said,  began  working  on  it  soon  after  the  conference 
was  closed,  and  they  finished  their  work  in  161 1. 
This  translation  is  still  in  general  use  among  Protest- 
ants who  speak  PZnglish.  It  is  known  as  King  James's 
version,  and  was  one  of  the  few  good  results  of  his  reign. 

James  I.  had  three  children.  There  was  one  daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth,  who  married  a  German,  Prince  Fred- 
erick, called  the  Elector  Palatine.  This  marriage  was 
very  important,  as  will  be  seen  by  and  by.  Then  there 
was  a  son  Henry,  who  soon  died,  and  a  son   Charles, 


1 66 


JAMES   I. 


KING  JAMES   I.;   FROM   A    PAINTING   BY   P.  VAN    SOMER,    DATED    l62l, 
IN    THE    NATIONAL    PORTRAIT   GALLERY, 


i6ri.]  THE  DIVINE   RIGHT  OF  KINGS.  167 

for  whom  it  was  necessary,  in  time,  to  find  a  suitable 
wife.  James  set  his  heart  upon  having  a  Spanish  prin- 
cess for  a  daughter-in-law.  But  the  Spaniards  thought 
he  should  show  some  favor  to  the  English  Catho-  «The 
lies,  which  he  could  not  well  do.  Prince  Charles  If^^}""^' 
and  a  young  companion,  George  Villiers,  Duke  "^s^-" 
of  Buckingham,  actually  went  to  Spain  to  see  the 
princess.  But  the  match  fell  through.  This  greatly 
pleasecl  the  English  people,  and  for  a  time  Buckingham 
was  the  most  popular  man  in  the  kingdom. 

One  of  James's  follies  was  a  belief  in  what  used  to 
be  called  ''The  Divine  Right  of  Kings."  He  had 
come  to  the  throne  in  defiance  of  an  Act  of  The 
Parliament,  and  merely  because  he  was  the  K,ghTof 
nearest  in  blood  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  did  ^'"s^- 
not  regard  himself  in  any  way  responsible  to  the  people 
of  England,  but  thought  himself  an  absolute  monarch. 
He  would  have  had  no  such  thing  as  a  Parliament  if  he 
could  have  helped  it.  Fortunately  for  England,  there 
was  no  safe  way  for  a  king  to  get  money  except  from 
Parliament,  and  he  was  obliged  to  call  it  together 
much  oftener  than  he  wished.  Now,  during  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  Parliament  had  been  quite  submis- 
sive on  the  whole,  though  once  in  a  while  some  bold 
member  would  openly  say  what  he  thought.  There 
was  a  feeling  of  loyalty  towards  Elizabeth,  which  was 
not  the  case  with  regard  to  James.  Then,  too,  she  was 
thoroughly  a  queen  in  her  bearing,  while  in  mind  and 
body  James  was  very  far  from  being  the  Englishman's 
ideal  of  a  king.  So  members  of  Parliament  neither 
respected  nor  feared  him.  And  they  soon  showed  their 
independence  by  impeaching  the  Lord  Chancellor,  the 
highest  judge  in  England.  This  was  Francis  Bacon, 
Lord  Verulam,  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the 


1 68 


JAMES   I. 


[1621 


nation,   and   one  of  the  few  really  great    men    whom 

James  had  about  him.      He  was  charged  with  taking 

bribes,  and  confessed  to  having  received  presents  from 

,   those  whose  cases  were  being  tried  before  him. 

Impeach-  ° 

mentof    He    was    declared    guilty    by    the    House    of 

Bacon.  ^  ^  n  1      • 

Lords,    and    sentenced    to    fine    and    imprison- 
ment,   from    both   of  which    he   was    almost    entirely 


TENTS   AND    MILITARY   EQUIPMENT    IN    THE   SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY. 


excused  by  the  king;  but  he  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  retirement.  It  must  be  remembered  in  his 
behalf  that  the  practice  of  taking  bribes  was  then 
almost  universal ;  and  he  was  perhaps  right  when  he 
claimed  to  have  been  the  most  honest  lord  chancellor 
for  many  years. 

The  House  of  Commons  also  turned  its  attention  to 
foreign  affairs,  and  informed  the  king  that  it  was  not 


i62i.]  THE  GREAT  PROTEST.  169 

safe  for  the  nation  to  have  a  Cathoh'c  queen,  as  might 
be  the  case  if  his  son  should  marry  a  Catholic  princess. 
James  became  very  angry,  and  called  it  an  as-  ihe 
sembly  of  five  hundred  kings.  He  bade  the  p^^l^^ 
Commons  not  to  meddle  with  the  "  mysteries  of  ('621). 
state,"  and  threatened  even  to  imprison  some  of  them 
in  the  Tower  of  London.  The  commoners  had  often 
listened  to  this  sort  of  language  from  Queen  Elizabeth. 
But  they  now  drew  up  a  great  protest  asserting  that  the 
king's  view  of  his  own  powers  was  quite  wrong.  They 
declared  '*  their  liberties  and  privileges  to  be  the  un- 
doubted birthright  of  the  subjects  of  England."  They 
asserted  also  that  they  had  a  clear  right  to  inquire  into 
anything  that  concerned  the  public  good.  This  enraged 
the  king  so  much  that  he  dissolved  Parliament,  and 
sending  for  their  records,  tore  out  their  protest  with  his 
own  hands.     A  few  years  later  he  died. 

OUTLINE. 

James,  King  of  Scotland,  son  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  succeeds 
Elizabeth.  Many  plots  formed  against  him  and  his  government: 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Guy  Favvkes.  James  dislikes  the  Puritans 
and  resolves  to  treat  them  with  severity.  James's  idea  of  "divine 
right  "  and  growing  independence  of  Parliament. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  relation  was  James  to  Elizabeth?  Who  was  Arabella 
Stuart  ? 

2.  Tell  the  story  of  Gunpowder  Plot.  How  did  it  become 
known  ? 

3.  Why  was  Lord  Bacon  impeached? 

4.  What  did  the  Commons  declare  as  to  their  rights  in  the 
Great  Protest? 


76 


JAMES   1. 


THE    STUARTS. 


Charles  II. 


James  I. 
Charles  I. 


James  II. 


Elizabeth,  ancestress  oi 
Hanoverians. 
(See  p.  250.) 

Mary;;/.  William  of 
I    Orange.- 


James,  the  Old 
Pretender. 

I 

Charles,  the  Young 
Pretender. 


Ann] 


Mary  tn.  William  of  Orange, 
afterwards  King  William  III 


Henry, 

ti8o7. 


1625.]  THE   FRENCH  MARRIAGE.  I/I 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CHARLES    I. 
1 62  5- 1 649. 

AS  soon  as  matters  could  be  properly  arranged,  the 
new  king  married  the  Princess  Henrietta  Maria 
of  France.  She  was  a  sister  of  the  French  king,  and 
daughter  of  that  Henry  IV.  portrayed  by  Macaulay  in 
the  ballad  of  the  "Battle  of  Ivry."  But  Henry  The 
IV.  had  turned  Catholic  in  order  to  become  n^^^r-^'^ 
king,  and  Henrietta  Maria  had  grown  up  to  be  jj^f^;.ft"^ 
a  very  strict  Catholic.  She  was  accompanied  France. 
to  England  by  several  priests,  who  often  advised  her 
very  ill.  One  day  she  went  with  them  to  Tyburn 
Hill,  and  prayed  to  some  of  the  Roman  Catholics  who 
had  formerly  been  put  to  death  there,  as  if  they-  were 
saints  and  martyrs.  This  Charles  considered  an  in- 
sult to  him  and  to  his  whole  nation.  Again,  she  re- 
fused, under  the  advice  of  her  priests,  to  be  crowned 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  the  king  had 
been.  This  enraged  Charles  above  all,  and  he  ordered 
Buckingham  to  send  every  one  of  the  French  priests 
out  of  the  kingdom.  He  said,  "  If  you  can,  by  fair 
means;  but  stick  not  long  in  disputing.  Otherwise 
force  them  away,  driving  them  like  so  many  wild 
beasts."  This  sending  away  the  priests  was  against 
the  marriage  agreement,  and  so  the  French  king  made 
war  against  England. 


172  CHARLES  I.  [1628. 

It  seemed  to  Charles  and  his  favorite,  Buckingham, 
that  the  best  way  to  carry  on  the  war  was  to  help  the 
Attempt  French  Protestants,  or  Huguenots,  against  theii 
La^nir^  king.  The  stronghold  of  the  Huguenots  was  at 
cheiie.  La  Rochelle,  a  fortified  city  on  the  sea-coast ; 
and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  led  a  great  expedition 
to  the  relief  of  that  place  when  it  was  besieged  by 
Cardinal  Richelieu. 

This  enterprise  was  at  first  popular;  and  though  it 

cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  this  would  have  been  joyfully 

given,  had  the  Enerlish  people  felt  confidence  in 

Petition     o  '  0x1 

of  Right  Buckingham.  For  want  ot  this  confidence,  the 
House  of  Commons  refused  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary funds  unless  he  was  dismissed.  Charles  was  angry, 
dissolved  Parliament,  tried  in  vain  to  raise  money  on  his 
own  responsibility,  and  then  called  Parliament  together 
once  more  in  March,  1628.  But  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, instead  of  voting  money,  drew  up  a  paper  called 
the  "Petition  of  Right."  This  paper,  which  received 
the  consent  of  the  Peers,  asserted  the  following  prin- 
ciples: First,  that  no  English  subject  could  be  com- 
pelled to  pay  any  tax  whatever  without  the  consent  of 
Parliament ;  secondly,  that  no  one  could  be  imprisoned 
without  cause  shown;  thirdly,  that  no  one  could  be 
compelled  to  receive  soldiers  or  sailors  into  his  house; 
and  fourthly,  that  no  one  could  be  tried  by  martial  law 
in  time  of  peace.  All  these  things  had  been  done  by 
the  king;  and  for  him  to  surrender  the  right  to  do 
them  was  to  give  up  a  great  deal  of  what  he  and  his 
father  before  him  had  regarded  as  kingly  power.  But 
his  need  of  money  was  desperate,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  held  the  purse;  so  at  last,  most  unwillingly, 
he  consented  to  the  petition.     Even  then  he  tried  to 


i628.] 


PETITION   OF   RIGHT. 


173 


soften  the  fall  by  giving  his  consent  in  an  unusual 
way.  But  the  Commons  were  not  to  be  put  off  in  this 
manner,  and  at  once  set  about  making  an  additional 
document,    called    a    Remonstrance,    or    statement   of 


KING    CHARLES    I.  :    FROM    A    PAINTING   BY    VAN    DYCK. 

grievances.  Then  the  king  sent  them  a  message  in- 
forming them  that  it  was  their  business  to  vote  money, 
and  not  to  draw  up  remonstrances.  Then  followed 
some  bold  debates,  in  which  Sir  John  Eliot  was  begin- 
ning to  say  something  against  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 


174  CHARLES   I.  [1629. 

ham,  when  the  Speaker  interrupted  him,  and  said, 
"There  is  a  command  laid  upon  me  to  interrupt  any 
that  should  go  about  to  lay  an  aspersion  on  the  minis- 
ters of  state."  Presently  the  Speaker  asked  permis- 
sion to  leave  the  House ;  and  when  he  was  gone,  the 
members  found  their  tongues.  Sir  Edward  Coke  stood 
up,  and  named  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  as  the  source 
of  all  the  people's  troubles.  Soon  the  Speaker  re- 
turned, and  adjourned  the  House  till  next  day.  But 
the  words  that  had  been  spoken,  and  the  spirit  shown, 
had  such  an  influence  on  the  Peers  that  they  sent  a 
deputation,  with  Buckingham  at  its  head,  to  beg  the 
king  to  give  a  prompt  and  clear  answer  to  the  Peti- 
tion of  Right.  That  very  afternoon  he  answered  by 
coming  to  the  House  of  Peers,  and  giving  his  approval 
in  the  customary  form  to  the  petition.  The  clerk  said 
in  old  Norman-French,  which  is  even  now  used  in 
many  official  proceedings  in  England,  "  Soit  droit  fait 
comme  est  desire"  (Let  it  be  enacted  as  prayed  for); 
and  henceforth  the  Petition  of  Right  became  the  law 
of  the  land.  It  was  so  great  a  step  in  the  direction  of 
popular  government  that  it  has  been  called  "the  second 
Magna  Charta. "  After  all,  when  the  House  had  voted 
the  money  desired,  it  went  on  with  the  "  Remon- 
strance;" but  the  House  had  now  lost  its  hold  on  the 
king,  as  he  had  all  he  wanted,  and  so  he  dissolved  it. 

Parliament  came  together  again  in  1629,  amid  dis- 
aster abroad  and  discontent  at  home.  The  House  of 
Sir  John  Commons,  instead  of  voting  money,  began  by 
ReToiu-  adopting  a  complaint  against  Laud  and  two 
tions.  other  clergymen  who  favored  more  elaborate 
religious  ceremonies  in  the  Church  of  England.  Then 
came   up  anew  the  question  of  the  Petition  of  Right, 


1629.]  SIR  JOHN   ELIOT'S   RESOLUTIONS.  1/5 

which  had  been  disregarded.  The  Speaker  tried  to 
prevent  action  by  the  House,  even  breaking  up  the 
sitting  by  leaving  his  chair.  A  few  days  later,  after 
having  twice  adjourned  the  House  in  this  same  way, 
he  again  refused  to  keep  his  place.  This  could 
be  endured  no  longer;  and  two  members,  Denzil 
Holies  and  Benjamin  Valentine,  seized  him,  and  held 
him  in  his  place  by  main  force,  Holies  saying,  "You 
shall  sit  until  we  please  to  rise."  Then  Sir  John 
Eliot  made  a  bold  speech,  defending  the  House  against 
any  charge  of  disrespect  to  the  king,  and  presenting  a 
series  of  resolutions,  on  which  he  demanded  a  vote. 
Several  members  rose  to  leave  the  House ;  but  a  mem- 
ber locked  the  door,  and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket. 
Then  Eliot  again  called  upon  the  Speaker  to  do  his 
duty,  and  put  the  resolutions  to  vote,  reminding  him 
that  every  one  who  had  thus  far  defied  Parliament  had 
been  broken  down  by  it.  The  Speaker  said  he  dared 
not  do  it.  At  last  Denzil  Holies,  standing  by  the 
Speaker's  chair,  and  while  the  royal  messengers  were 
pounding  on  the  door,  read  the  resolutions  himself,  put 
them  to  vote,  and  saw  them  passed  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.  They  asserted  that  every  one  who  tried  to 
introduce  new  ceremonies  into  the  Church,  or  who  ad- 
vised the  levy  of  taxes  without  an  express  grant  from 
Parliament,  or  who  paid  taxes  so  levied,  was  a  betrayer 
of  the  liberties  of  England,  and  an  enemy  to  the  king- 
dom. The  door  was  then  flung  open,  and  the  members 
went  out,  meeting  the  soldiers  whom  the  king  had  sent 
to  force  their  way  in.  The  work  of  this  Parliament 
was  done.  It  was  now  the  king's  turn,  and  for  eleven 
long  years  no  House  of  Commons  was  called  together 
in  England.     Sir  John  Eliot  was  placed  in  confinement, 


176  CHARLES   I.  [1635. 

and  refusing  to  make  his  submission  to  the  king,  died 
there  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  EngHsh  Hberty.  Among 
the  members  who  spoke  for  the  first  time  in  this  Par- 
liament was  OHver  Cromwell. 

Another  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Rochelle  was 
now  fitted  out  with  all  speed,  and  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham went  down  to  Portsmouth  to  take  command. 
But  he  was  there  murdered  by  an  officer  in  the  army 
who  felt  himself  ill-treated  by  Buckingham. 

Charles  was  now  resolved  to  govern  without  parlia- 
ments, if  it  were  possible.  The  money  question  was 
,  the    only  difficult    one.       But   he    had  a  treas- 

Personal  •' 

govern-    urer  named  Weston,   who  had  great   skill   and 

nient  .... 

of  the  ingenuity  in  getting  money  out  of  the  people  of 
*"^*  England  without  driving  them  into  rebellion. 
To  begin  with,  Weston  and  his  friends  looked  up  and 
enforced  certain  old  laws  which  people  had  long  since 
forgotten.  For  instance,  there  was  an  old  law  which 
required  that  when  a  new  king  was  crowned,  all  men 
who  owned  land  to  a  certain  amount  must  be  raised  to 
the  rank  of  knighthood,  whether  they  desired  it  or 
not.  Now,  as  years  went  by,  and  the  value  of  money 
decreased,  it  became  impossible  for  such  landowners 
to  support  the  dignity  of  knighthood.  They  had  not 
asked  to  be  knighted,  and  the  existence  of  the  law 
itself  had  been  wellnigh  forgotten.  Weston  now  com- 
pelled all  who  had  broken  this  law  to  pay  large  fines. 
Another  way  he  had  of  raising  money  was  by  the  sale 
of  monopolies,  or  the  exclusive  right  to  sell  or  make 
a  certain  article.  There  was  now  no  Parliament  to 
object  to  the  creation  of  monopolies,  so  Weston  sold 
the  right  to  make  and  sell  innumerable  things,  even 
soap,  to  those  who  would  pay  a  large  sum  to  the  king, 


1635]         ARCHBISHOP  LAUD  AND  THE  PURITANS.  1 77 

and  a  smaller  sum  to  himself.  In  these  and  other 
ways  Weston  kept  the  king  supplied  with  money  for 
several  years. 

•The  king  had  another  and  worse  adviser  in  William 
Laud,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  After  Weston's 
death,  he  became  the  real  head  of  the  treasury, 
and  the  most  powerful  subject  in  England.  He  bishop 
was  honest  and  sincere,  but  narrow,  harsh,  and  and  the 
arrogant.  To  him  ''Church  and  King"  were  ^""''"'• 
everything,  while  the  people  seemed  a  body  to  be 
trained,  amused,  and  kept  down.  He  especially  wished 
to  restore  the  Church  and  clergy  to  the  high  power  in 
the  state  they  had  once  held,  and  to  bring  back  many 
of  the  ceremonies  that  had  been  given  up  since  the 
Reformation.  He  wished  to  replace  in  the  churches 
the  stained  glass  windows  that  had  been  destroyed 
or  removed.  He  wished  also  to  encourage  dancing, 
the  theatre,  and  Sunday  afternoon  sports.  He  even 
persuaded  Charles  to  reissue  a  certain  "  Declaration  of 
Sports,"  which  King  James  had  withdrawn,  for  fear 
of  offending  the  Puritans  and  their  friends.  The 
clergy  were  now  ordered  to  read  this  declaration 
from  their  pulpits.  Some  refused,  and  were  pun- 
ished. One  man  read  the  offensive  document  and 
the  Ten  Commandments  in  succession,  and  then  said 
to  his  congregation:  "Ye  have  heard  the  command- 
ments of  God  and  man;  obey  which  ye  please." 
When  it  came  to  play-acting,  there  was  more  to  be 
said  for  the  Puritan  view.  The  stage  was  degraded, 
and  reflected  the  moral  tone  of  the  people,  which  was 
low.  All  this  displeased  the  Puritans,  whose  moral 
tone  was  good,  though  their  views  might  sometimes  be 
narrow.     One  of  them,  William  Prynne,  wrote  a  book 

12 


178  CHARLES  1.  [1635. 

against  stage-plays.  Laud  declared  this  an  insult  to 
the  queen,  who  sometimes  had  taken  part  in  private 
theatricals.  So  the  Star  Chamber  sentenced  Prynne 
to  be  placed  in  the  pillory,  where  everybody  might 
insult  him,  to  lose  his  ears,  to  pay  a  fine,  and  to  be 
imprisoned  during  the  king's  pleasure.  And  this 
sentence  was  executed  without  arousing  much  remark. 

During  all  this  time  the  need  of  money  became  more 
and  more  pressing.  All  the  extreme  measures  resorted 
Ship-  to  by  Weston  and  his  successors  were  not 
money,  euough ;  SO  3.  ucw  dcvicc  was  invented.  This 
was  called  ship-money.  The  English  navy  had  become 
very  much  reduced,  and  it  was  decided  to  revive  it. 
In  Queen  Elizabeth's  day  she  used  to  call  upon  the 
seaport  towns  or  counties  to  furnish  ships  for  the 
navy,  as  they  were  needed.  This  was  now  done;  but 
the  ships  demanded  were  so  large  that  only  London 
could  furnish  them,  the  other  seaport  places  being  let 
off  with  paying  a  sum  of  money  instead,  to  be  collected 
from  the  individual  taxpayers.  A  large  sum  was  thus 
raised  without  much  opposition,  and  there  is  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  that  it  was  honestly  spent  on  the  navy. 
The  trouble  was  that  it  created  a  very  strong  tempta- 
tion to  go  a  little  farther,  and  raise  money  in  this  way 
for  all  the  expenses  of  the  court. 

Accordingly,  during  the  next  year  (1635)  there 
came  another  call  for  ship-money.  This  time  it  was 
Hamp-  ingeniously  argued  that  the  inland  counties 
den's  were  as  much  interested  in  the  defence  of  the 
kingdom  as  the  rest,  and  why  should  they  not 
pay  their  share.?  This  they  did,  with  some  farther 
grumbling.  But  when  there  came,  in  the  next  year, 
a  third  call  for  ship-money,  addressed  to  all  the  coun- 


l8o  CHARLES   I.  [1637 

ties,  and  payable  by  individual  taxpayers,  the  people 
began  to  open  their  eyes.  It  became  plain  that  the 
king  had  hit  upon  a  method  for  raising  just  what 
money  he  pleased,  even  while  refusing  to  call  together 
a  Parliament.  The  excitement  spread  fast,  and  many 
prominent  men  refused  to  pay  their  share  of  the  ship- 
money,  believing  that  the  Parliament  alone  had  the 
right  to  tax  them.  Among  them  were  Lord  Say  and 
Sele,  Lord  Brook  (for  whom  Saybrook  in  Connecticut 
is  named),  and  John  Hamxpden,  one  of  England's 
greatest  men.  Hampden's  case  was  brought  to  trial. 
Seven  of  the  "twelve  judges"  decided  against  him, 
giving  their  opinions  in  favor  of  the  king.  We 
shall  see  what  became  of  the  ''ship-money  judges," 
and  their  decision  in  Hampden's  case,  when  the  Long 
Parliament  met.  For  the  present  the  ship-money  was 
collected. 

The  king's  triumph  seemed  complete;  but  his  best 
advisers  cautioned  him  that  the  popular  feeling  was 
Public  with  Hampden,  and  that  he  would  do  well  to 
aSst  ^^^1  ^  Parliament.  Soon  Prynne  was  again 
the  king,  brought  before  the  Star  Chamber,  this  time 
for  speaking  his  mind  very  freely  about  Laud  and  his 
bishops.  Others  were  brought  up  at  the  same  time, 
—  Burton,  a  clergyman,  and  also  a  physician  named 
Bastwick.  This  last  man  had  gone  even  farther  than 
Prynne,  and  had  prayed :  "  From  plague,  pestilence, 
and  famine,  from  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  good 
Lord  deliver  us."  All  three  were  condemned  to  stand 
in  the  pillory,  Burton  and  Bastwick  to  lose  their  ears, 
and  Prynne  what  was  left  of  his;  and  the  last-named 
to  be  branded  on  each  cheek  "  S.  S.,"  for  Sower  of 
Sedition.       When    the    prisoners    went    through    the 


1637]  THE  SCOTTISH  CHURCH.  I81 

Streets  to  meet  their  punishment,  they  found  the 
pavements  strewn  with  flowers  and  green  wreaths  in 
their  honor.  A  groan  went  up  from  the  whole 
assembly  when  the  cruel  punishment  was  inflicted; 
and  when  the  prisoners  were  afterwards  carried  to 
distant  parts  of  England,  the  same  deep  sympathy 
met  them  everywhere. 

Between  Prynne's  two  punishments  a  great  change 
had  taken  place  in  public  opinion.     The  great  middle 
class  now  stood  behind  Hampden  and  Prynne, 
though  Charles  and  his  favorite  archbishop  had  Scottish 

, .  1  •  .-r.1  T^      •  •  •  Church. 

not  discovered  it.  The  great  Puritan  emigration 
to  America  was  going  on  all  this  time  (1630-1640) ;  and 
we  cannot  understand  the  bitter  feeling  that  the  emi- 
grants carried  with  them,  not  merely  against  bishops, 
but  against  kings,  without  remembering  how  Laud  and 
Charles  were  associated  in  their  minds.  Before  long 
these  two  men  took  a  new  step  in  what  the  people  called 
tyranny.  They  resolved  to  strengthen  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Scotland.  They  found  the  Scots  less  loyal 
and  patient  than  the  English.  In  Scotland,  at  the 
Reformation,  the  bishops  had  generally  left  their 
flocks,  and,  under  the  lead  of  John  Knox,  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  or  Kirk,  as  it  was  called,  had  come  to  be 
i^overned,  according  to  the  methods  of  Calvin,  by  rep- 
resentative assemblies,  **  presbyteries,"  and  the  like. 
King  James  had  established  bishops  in  Scotland,  but 
they  had  obtained  little  influence.  The  king  and  Laud 
now  resolved  to  make  the  Scottish  Kirk  uniform  with 
the  Church  in  England.  So  the  Scottish  clergy  were 
ordered  to  wear  surplices,  which  they  hated,  and  a  new 
prayer-book  was  sent  to  them  from  England,  with 
orders  for  every  minister  to  buy  two  copies,  and  use 


1 82  CHARLES  I.  [1639. 

the  book  every  Sunday.  On  July  23,  1637,  the  Dean 
of  St.  Giles's  Church  in  Edinburgh  began  to  read  from 
the  new  prayer-book.  A  riot  followed,  and  it  did  not 
take  long  to  put  all  Scotland  in  open  rebellion.  An 
old  agreement,  called  "The  National  Covenant,"  was 
revived.  It  was  signed  by  all  the  leading  men  except 
a  few  royalists  in  the  North.  Its  signers  agreed  to 
stand  by  their  own  religious  faith  and  forms.  The 
Covenanters  soon  raised  an  army,  seized  Edinburgh 
Castle,  and  went  to  war  v/ith  the  king. 

The  war,  however,  did  not  last  long.  Neither  party 
really  wished  to  fight,  and  a  treaty  was  made  at  Ber- 
^,^^  wick.  Unfortunately  the  Scots  had  no  con- 
first  ^  fidence  in  Charles.  They  kept  their  army 
War        together,   and  applied   to  the   French  king  for 

^ '  aid.  Charles  wished  to  renew  the  war,  but 
he  had  no  money;  and  at  last,  after  eleven  years  of 
refusal,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  call  Parliament  to- 
gether once  more.  In  doing  this  he  acted  under  the 
straf-  advice  of  Thomas  Wentworth,  Earl  of  Strafford, 
ford.  ]y[-gj^  called  this  statesman  "the  apostate,"  be- 
cause at  one  time  he  had  seemed  to  be  on  the  people's 
side.  But  his  opposition  to  the  court  at  the  time  of  the 
Petition  of  Right  had  been  largely  because  of  his  dis- 
like to  Buckingham,  after  whose  death  he  fell  into  his 
natural  place  as  the  chief  defender  of  royalty  against 
the  rising  spirit  of  liberty.  He  wished  to  preserve 
the  king's  power  as  it  had  existed  under  the  later 
Tudors.  While  Weston  and  Laud  had  been  at  work 
for  the  king  in  England,  Strafford  had  been  doing  the 
same  in  Ireland,  where,  under  his  favorite  watchword, 
"Thorough,"  he  had  oppressed  the  Irish  most  cruelly. 
He  had  advjsed  the  king  against  the  treaty  of  Berwick, 


1640.]  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  I  S3 

and  he  now  urged  him  to  call   a  Parliament.     That 
body  met  in  April,    1640.      It  utterly  refused  to  vote 
money  until    the  popular   grievances   were  re- 
dressed.     But  the  king  refused  thus  to  give  up   ?hort 
all  the  principles  at  stake;  and  after  a  twenty-   ment 
three  days'    session  Parliament  was  dissolved,    ^'^^o)- 
It  is  hence  known  as  the  Short  Parliament. 

In  one  way  or  another    Charles    and   Strafford    got 
together  some   soldiers   and    armed    them.      At    their 
head  Strafford  set  out  to  meet  the  Scots.      But  .^j^^ 
the  English  soldiers  hated  Laud  more  than  they  second 

"  •'     Bishops' 

did  those  against  whom  they  were  marching.  War 
They  called  the  war  "  The  Bishops'  War. "  They  ^'^^°^" 
tore  down  the  altar  railings  which  Laud  had  caused  to 
be  erected  in  the  parish  churches.  They  deserted  by 
hundreds,  and  sometimes  killed  their  own  officers.  The 
Scots  poured  over  the  border,  took  possession  of  the 
coal-mines  of  the  North  of  England,  and  were  only  pre- 
vented from  coming  farther  southward  by  the  king's 
promising  to  pay  them  ;£"25,ooo  per  month  until  peace 
should  be  made.  The  king  could  not  possibly  pay 
such  a  large  sum,  and  he  was  compelled  to  call  a  Par- 
liament. It  met  at  Westminster  Nov.  3,  1640,  and 
sat,  with  intermissions,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  until 
March  16,  1660.  It  is  for  this  reason  known  in  history 
as  the  Long  Parliament. 

The  new  Parliament  was  differently  situated   from 
any  other  that  had  ever  come  together.      In  the  first 
place,  the  great  mass  of  the  English  people  was   The 
behind  it,  for  men  were  weary  of  paying  taxes    pa"ifa- 
to  which    their   consent   had  not    been    given,    J"^"^_ 
while  many  were  tired  of  Laud  and  his  innova-    »^<^°)- 
tions.      Then  again,   and  what   was  most   important, 


1 84  CHARLES  I.  [1641. 

Parliament  had  an  armed  force  behind  it,  —  not  the 
English  army,  to  be  sure,  but  the  Scottish  army.  The 
king  could  not  pay  the  Scots;  and  as  long  as  Parlia- 
ment paid  them  only  enough  to  secure  their  staying  in 
the  North  of  England,  and  not  enough  to  induce  them 
to  return  to  Scotland,  so  long  Parliament  held  a  sword 
hanging  over  the  king's  head.  If  Parliament  were 
dissolved,  and  the  Scots  came  south,  no  one  could  tell 
what  might  happen.  Or  again,  if  Parliament  refused 
to  pay  any  money,  and  they  came  south,  it  was  un- 
certain how  many  Puritans  would  join  them;  so  the 
king  was  obliged  to  do  and  hear  many  things  he  did 
not  like. 

Recognizing  in  Strafford  the  one  man  capable  of 
opposing  them,  the  patriot  leaders  determined  to  over- 
Execu-  throw  him.  On  November  11,  therefore,  John 
tionof  Pym  —  "King  Pym  "  his  enemies  called  him — ■ 
ford  appeared  before  the  House  of  Peers,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  Commons  accused  Strafford  of  hiofh 


(1641). 


&' 


treason.  Even  while  Pym  was  speaking,  Strafford 
entered  the  House,  intending  to  bring  the  same  charge 
against  Pym  on  account  of  certain  dealings  with  the 
Scots.  He  was  forbidden  to  speak,  and  was  sent  to  the 
Tower  to  await  trial.  Laud,  too,  was  arrested,  though 
his  trial  was  long  delayed.  When  Strafford's  trial 
began,  it  soon  became  evident  that  it  would  be  hard 
to  convict  him  on  the  charge  of  treason.  So  the  trial 
before  the  Peers  was  abandoned.  A  bill  declaring 
Strafford  a  public  enemy,  and  providing  for  his  execu- 
tion, was  brought  into  the  Commons  and  passed.  This 
was  called  a  Bill  of  Attainder,  and,  like  any  other  bill, 
required  the  consent  of  the  Commons,  Peers,  and  king, 
to  become  a  law.     The  excitement  during  its  passage 


i64r.]  CONSTITUTIONAL   REFORMS.  I85 

was  intense,  and  once  when  a  board  in  the  floor  of 
Parliament  creaked  under  the  weight  of  a  very  heavy 
member,  the  other  members  drew  their  swords,  as  if 
the  Gunpowder  Plot  were  begun  again.  Charles  was 
very  slow  to  give  his  consent  to  the  Bill  of  Attainder, 
and  when  he  did  so,  he  tried  to  put  off  the  execution. 
As  soon,  however,  as  it  became  known  that  Strafford 
had  tried  to  bribe  his  jailer  with  ;^20,ooo,  —  a  sum 
that  would  be  worth,  in  these  times,  several  hundred 
thousand  dollars, —  the  House  of  Commons  demanded 
that  his  execution  should  be  hurried,  and  refused 
to  wait.  So  on  May  12,  1641,  the  great  earl  was 
beheaded. 

During  the  year  1641  Parliament  made  many  other 
changes,  aiming  to  overthrow  the  whole  system  of 
arbitrary  f^rovernment  built  up  by  Strafford  and  ,, 
Laud.  The  courts  which  had  been  misused  tionai 
were  abolished, — the  Star  Chamber,  the  High 
Commission,  and  the  Council  of  the  North.  Prynne 
and  his  fellow-sufferers  were  released  from  prison. 
Ship-money  was  declared  illegal,  the  judgment  in 
Hampden's  case  was  annulled,  and  the  ship-money 
judges  who  did  not  get  away  were  impeached.  Then 
a  law  was  passed  arranging  for  more  frequent  parlia- 
ments in  the  future,  even  if  the  king  did  not  summon 
them.  When  the  king's  consent  was  obtained  to  a  bill 
providing  that  the  present  Parliament  should  not  be 
dissolved  except  by  its  own  consent,  the  two  Houses 
went  to  work  to  pay  off  both  armies  and  to  disband 
them. 

Charles  now  went  to  Scotland,  found  he  had  very 
little  authority  there,  and  then  came  back  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  better  received  than  before.     This 


l86  CHARLES  t.  [1642. 

was  due  partly  to  the  concessions  he  had  made,  but 
still  more  to  the  fact  that  the  reformers  themselves 
^j^g  had  now  begun  to  disagree  as  to  what  to  do  with 
patriots    the  Church  of  England.      Some  of  them,    like 

disagree 

about  Falkland  and  Hyde  (afterwards  Earl  of  Claren- 
reigion.  ^^^s^^  wished  simply  to  have  the  Church  service 
as  it  was  before  Laud  had  meddled  with  it.  Others, 
like  Pym,  Hampden,  and  Cromwell,  desired  that  it 
should  be  completely  reformed;  a  few,  like  Lord 
^j^g  Brook,  stood  for  a  middle  course.  Moreover, 
if4'\      a  fierce    rebellion    had   broken    out  in  Ireland. 

Rebel- 
lion        After  Strafford's   iron   rule  had  been  removed, 

^  ^^  '  the  Irish  peasants,  who  had  been  driven  from 
their  homes  by  the  English,  drove  out  the  English  in 
return;  and  these  last  were  either  killed  or  made  their 
way  to  Dublin  half-starved  and  naked.  It  was  plain  it 
would  never  do  to  give  Charles  an  army  to  put  down 
this  rebellion,  for  he  would  surely  use  it  against  the 
patriots  in  England,  who  were  now  having  a  hard  time 
to  maintain  themselves.  To  revive  the  resentment  of 
The  the  people  against  the  king,  the  reformers  car- 
Remon-  "^'^^^  through  the  Commons  the  "  Grand  Remon- 
strance, strance,"  reciting  all  Charles's  illegal  acts  since 
the  beginning  of  his  reign.  Their  majority  in  the 
Commons,  where  at  first  they  had  met  with  almost  no 
opposition,  was  now  only  eleven,  and  they  came  near 
drawing  swords  among  themselves.  Two  days  later 
the  king  returned  from  Scotland,  and  found  himself 
so  well  received  that,  he  believed  his  power  to  have 
revived,  and  refused  to  make  any  concessions  whatever. 
On  Jan.  3,  1642,  the  king's  attorney-general  came 
into  the  House  of  Peers  and  impeached  of  high  trea- 
son one  peer,  Lord  Kimbolton,  and  five  commoners, — ■ 


1642.]       ATl'EMPT  TO  ARREST  THE  FIVE  MEMBERS. 


187 


Pym,  Hampden,  Haselrig,  Holies,  and  Strode,  —  the 
complaint  being  that  they  had  intrigued  with  the  Scots 
during  the  late  troubles.  When  the  king  de- 
manded the  persons  of  the  five  accused  com-  attempt 
moners,  the  House  of  Commons  voted  to  take  the^^vf 
the  matter  into  consideration.  Not 
with  this,  Charles  decided  to  go  the  next  day  to 
the  House  and  seize  the  five  members.  When  the 
moment  came,  his  heart  failed  him,  and  had  not  the 


satisfied  |"e>«" 

bers. 


A  COACH   OF  THE    MIDDLE   OF  THE   SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY! 
FROM    AN    ENGRAVING    BY    JOHN    DUNSTALL. 

queen  called  him  a  coward,  he  might  not  have  gone 
At  last,  however,  he  entered  the  House,  and  stand- 
ing before  the  Speaker's  chair,  told  the  members 
that  he  had  come  to  take  the  traitors.  Not  seeing 
them,  he  asked  the  Speaker  if  they  were  there.  Wil- 
liam Lenthall,  the  Speaker,  kneeling  before  the  king, 
answered  bravely,  "  May  it  please  your  Majesty,  I  have 


1 88  CHARLES   I.  [1642. 

neither  eyes  to  see  nor  tongue  to  speak  in  this  place, 
but  as  the  House  is  pleased  to  direct  me."  "Well, 
well,"  said  Charles,  "  't  is  no  matter.  I  think  my  eyes 
are  as  good  as  another's."  Then,  finding,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  that  the  birds  were  flown,  he  departed  amid 
cries  of  "Privilege!  privilege!"  This  was  to  remind 
him  that  it  was  the  legal  privilege  of  members  not 
to  be  arrested  for  what  they  said  in  Parliament.  He 
soon  found  that  the  five  members  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  City  of  London,  by  order  of  the  House,  and 
he  accordingly  went  and  demanded  them  of  the  Com- 
mon Council.  The  same  cry  of  "  Privileges  of  Parlia- 
ment "  met  his  ear,  and  this  was  all  he  could  get  from 
the  City,  which  had  lately  received  him  so  cordially. 
These  attempts,  too,  made  all  the  reforming  party  in 
Parliament  feel  that  their  own  freedom  was  in  danger; 
so  that  the  peers,  the  city  merchants,  and  the  moder- 
ates, like  Falkland,  were  once  more  united  with  the 
Puritans.  The  Commons  left  Westminster,  and  sat  as 
a  committee  in  the  Guildhall  of  the  City  of  London. 
They  appointed  a  general  to  command  the  London 
train-bands,  or  militia,  who  were  loyal  to  the  people's 
cause;  and  even  the  Thames  watermen  pledged  them- 
selves to  protect  the  Commons.  After  this  they 
thought  they  could  safely  return  to  Westminster,  and 
did  so,  Jan.   11,  1642. 

Charles  I.   had    not   waited  to    see    the   triumph  of 

"  King  Pym  "  and  the  Puritans,  but  had  fled  with  the 

queen   and   their  children;    and   when   next   he 

Civil  ^  ^ 

War       entered   his   palace  of   Whitehall,   it  was  as  a 

prisoner.       Meanwhile,    the    Parliament    made 

one  more  demand  upon  him,  —  to  place  the  control  of 

all   the  militia   in   the   hands   of  officers   chosen   by 


1642.]  CIVIL   WAR   BEGINS.  1 89 

Parliament.  Refusing  this,  Charles  raised  his  royal 
standard  at  Nottingham,  and  called  on  all  loyal  subjects 
to  aid  him  against  his  rebellious  Parliament.  It  was 
thought  a  bad  omen  for  his  success  when  the  great  flag, 
blown  by  the  furious  wind,  fell  to  the  earth.  But  it  was 
again  set  up,  and  the  great  Civil  War  began. 

OUTLINE. 

Charles  I.  marries  a  French  princess  and  then  wages  an  unsuc- 
cessful war  against  France.  He  collects  money  illegally,  and 
Parliament  votes  the  Petition  of  Right,  stating  the  rights  of  Eng- 
lishmen. Sir  John  Eliot  leads  in  the  fight  for  liberty  :  his  resolu- 
tions, and  his  death. 

Government  without  Parliament :  Weston,  Laud,  and  Strafford. 
Ship-money  and  John  Hampden.     Prynne  and  his  punishments. 

Religion  in  Scotland,  Laud  and  Charles  interfere  and  bring  on 
war.  This  necessitates  the  calling  of  Parliament.  Impeachment 
and  death  of  Strafford.  The  king  attempts  to  arrest  tiie  leaders 
in  Parliament  and  flees  from  London.  Beginning  of  the  Civil 
War. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  State  the  important  points  of  the  Petition  of  Right;  of  Sir 
John  Eliot's  Resolutions. 

2.  Mention  all  of  the  means  by  which  the  government  sought  to 
raise  money  without  calling  Parliament. 

3.  Why  did  public  opinion  change  between  Prynne's  two  pun- 
ishments ?     How  was  this  change  shown  ? 

4.  Who  was  the  Earl  of  Strafford  ?  Why  did  the  patriot  leaders 
fear  him? 

5.  Mention  the  constitutional  reforms  of  the  years  1640-41. 

6.  What  was  the  Grand  Remonstrance  ?     Why  was  it  passed  ? 

7.  Describe  the  "  attempt  to  arrest  the  five  members." 


190     .  THE  CIVIL  WARS.  [1642. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THE    CIVIL    WARS. 
1 642- 1 649. 

PARLIAMENT  found  no  sort  of  difficulty  in  rais- 
ing an  army.  The  City  of  London  held  to  the 
Parliament's  side,  and  so  did  the  people  of  the  South- 
ern and  Eastern  counties,  then  the  richest  and  most 
^,^g  thickly  settled  parts  of  the  kingdom.  As  for 
^^i^  arms  and  ammunition,  the  Parliamentary  party 
begins  had  seizcd  whatever  the  king  had  collected. 
Yet  their  soldiers  were  inexperienced,  and  the 
king  was  therefore  generally  successful  at  first.  The 
first  conflict  at  Edgehill  was  indecisive,  and  the  king 
advanced  as  far  as  Brentford,  a  few  miles  from  Lon- 
don; but  there  the  city  train-bands  stopped  him,  and 
he  turned  back  to  Oxford,  where  he  spent  the  winter, 
and  where,  indeed,  he  had  his  headquarters  during  most 
of  the  war. 

The  next  year  neither  side  gained  much.  The 
greatest  loss  to  the  Parliament  was  in  the  death  of 
D  th  f  J^^^  Hampden,  who  was  killed  in  a  skirmish  at 
John       Chalcrrove  Field,  near  Oxford.      Not  very  much 

Hamp-  ^  ■' 

den  is  known  of  Hampden's  private  history;  but  the 
respect  he  won  both  from  friend  and  foe  shows 
his  character  to  have  been  high.  At  length  the  aid  of 
the  Scots  was  secured  by  the  Parliamentary  leaders. 
This  was  the  last  achievement  of  "  King  Pym,"  and  Jie 


j:x(.j.ani> 

AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 

PURITAN  REBELLION. 


Districts  )ielj  by  the  King 

"   Parliajnent 


Umgiituilc  West  0  Longitude  Eaat  1 


Ormn  i  Co.,  .V«Kr  For*. 


1643.J  OLIVER  CROMWELL.  19I 

also  died  at  the  end  of  1643.  A  year  or  two  later  came 
the  execution  on  the  scaffold  of  Archbishop  Laud,  who 
had  done  more  than  any  one,  except,  perhaps,  Death  of 
Charles  himself,  to  bring  civil  war  upon  the  ^^'"' 
country.  Hampden  and  Pym  upon  the  one  side,  and 
Strafford  and  Laud  upon  the  other  were  thus  re- 
moved. But  a  new  personage,  more  powerful  in  his 
way  than  either  of  them,  had  meantime  appeared  upon 
the  scene. 

Years  after,  it  was  related  that  when  the  members 
were  leaving  the  House  of  Commons  after  the  passage 
of  the  "Grand  Remonstrance,"  a  man  of  cfood 

1-11  ,  .    ,  1  Oliver 

stature,  very  plainly  dressed,  with  a  sharp,  un-  Crom- 
tunable  voice,  and  a  red  and  swollen  face,  was 
heard  to  declare  that  had  the  Remonstrance  been 
rejected,  he,  for  one,  would  have  sold  his  all  the  next 
morning,  and  never  have  seen  England  more.  He 
added :  "  I  know  there  are  many  other  honest  men  of 
the  same  resokition."  That  man  was  Oliver  Cromwell, 
known  to  his  neighbors  as  "  The  Lord  of  the  Fens," 
for  th'j  manful  way  in  which  he  had  asserted  the  rights 
of  his  friends  against  both  king  and  noble.  Cromwell 
was  not  a  great  Parliamentary  leader,  like  Eliot  or  Pym, 
but  he  had  a  wonderful  way  of  seeing  the  needs  of  the 
moment,  and  of  seeking  a  remedy  with  immense  energy 
and  strength. 

He   saw   that   the    Parliament's   troops,  who  were, 
as   he  said,    mostly   "old,    decayed   serving-men   and 
tapsters,    and    such   kind  of  fellows,"   were  no    Crom- 
match  for   the   adherents  of   the   king.     "You    7rfn^ 
must   get,"    he    said   to    Hampden,   "men  of  a    '''*^^- 
spirit  that  is  likely  to  go  on  as  far  as  gentlemen  will 
go,  or   else   you  will    be   beaten   still."      Soon   after 


192 


THE   CIVIL   WARS. 


[1643 


this,  Cromwell  was  made  a  colonel  of  cavalry,  and 
he  took  good  care  that  none  but  "godly  men,"  by 
which  he  meant  honest,  well-behaved  men,  should 
enlist  in  his    regiment.      He  never  asked    them  what 


OLIVER  CROMWELL  :     FROM   A   PAINTING   BY  SIR   PETER   LELY. 


Church  they  preferred,  but  only  made  sure  that  they 
were  honest,  sober  Christians,  who  had  an  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  the  country.  These  men  he  drilled 
until  they  obeyed  orders  as  men  have  seldom  obeyed 
before  or  since.      "Truly  they  were  never  beaten  at 


1644-]  MARSTON  MOOR.  193 

all,"  he  said  at  a  later  day.     They  went  into  battle 
singing  psalms,  and  were  known  as  the  "  Ironsides." 

At  the  head  of  these  men  he  helped  the  Earl  of 
Manchester  to  drive  the  king's  forces  from  the  eastern 
counties.  He  then  marched  into  Lincolnshire,  ^^^.^^^^ 
and  beat  the  Royalists  at  Winceby  Fight.  Soon  Moor 
after,  he  joined  Fairfax  and  the  Scots,  and  the 
united  armies  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  York,  whither 
the  Marquis  of  Newcastle,  the  king's  commander  in 
the  North,  had  retreated.  Before  long,  Prince  Rupert 
came  to  the  marquis's  aid.  The  two  armies  met  on 
Marston-  Moor.  Cromwell,  with  his  Ironsides,  dashed 
through  Rupert's  hitherto  unconquered  troopers  as 
through  a  field  of  growing  corn.  "God  made  them 
as  stubble  to  our  swords, "  he  wrote  to  the  Speaker  of 
the  Commons.  Recalling  his  men  from  the  pursuit,  he 
rode  to  the  aid  of  the  Scots,  who  were  hard  pressed  on 
the  other  flank.  In  a  few  moments  the  day  was  won. 
Soon  after,  York  surrendered,  and  Cromwell  was  a 
power  in  the  land. 

Meantime,  in  the  south  of  England,  the  king  had 
been  very  successful,  and  had  captured  the  greater 
part  of  the  main  army  commanded  by  the  Earl  of 
Essex.  And  even  Cromwell  was  not  always  so  fortu- 
nate as  at  Marston  Moor.  At  Newbury,  when  he  and 
Manchester  had  driven  the  king  off  the  field,  Cromwell 
had  begged  to  be  allowed  to  make  one  charge  with  his 
Ironsides  on  the  retreating  army.  "No,"  said  Man- 
chester, "  if  we  should  beat  the  king  ninety-nine  times, 
he  would  still  be  king,  and  his  posterity  after  him, 
and  we  should  be  subjects  still;  but  if  he  should  beat 
us  only  once,  we  should  be  hanged,  and  our  posterity 

undone."      To   Cromwell  this  lukewarmness   seemed 

13 


194  I'he:  civil  wars.  [1645. 

little  better  than  treason  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
What  though  he  should  be  hanged,  if  the  cause  was 
gained.?  As  for  the  king,  Cromwell  declared  that  if 
he  met  him  in  battle,  ''he  would  fire  his  pistol  at  the 
king,  as  at  another."  He  rose  in  his  place  in  the 
House  of  Commons  and  declared:  "It  is  now  a  time 
to  speak,  or  forever  hold  the  tongue ; "  adding,  "  I  do 
conceive  if  the  army  be  not  put  into  another  method, 
and  the  war  more  vigorously  prosecuted,  the  people 
can  bear  the  war  no  longer,  and  will  enforce  you  to  a 
dishonorable  peace."  It  was  determined  to  put  the 
army  into  a  new  method,  and  to  get  rid  of  Manchester, 
Essex,  and  others  who  were  afraid  to  beat  the  king  too 
Th  s  thoroughly.  This  was  done  by  the  passage  of 
denying  the  "  Sclf-dcuying  Ordinance,"  depriving  all 
ance  members  of  Parliament  of  their  military  com- 
^^  '^^''  mands.  The  army  was  also  reorganized,  or 
"new  modelled,"  as  the  phrase  was,  on  the  plan  of 
the  Ironsides.  Fairfax  was  placed  at  its  head.  He 
"Th  soon  enlisted  twenty  thousand  "godly,  honest 
New  men,"  never  asking  what  were  their  religious 
preferences.  Cromwell's  presence  was  felt  to 
be  so  necessary  that  the  officers  petitioned  Parliament 
to  relax  the  "Self-denying  Ordinance"  in  his  favor. 
The  request  was  granted,  and  on  June  13  he  rejoined 
his  Ironsides,  who  gave  "a  great  shout  for  joy  of  his 
coming  to  them."  In  truth,  he  came  in  good  time,  for 
the  very  next  day  the  "  New  Model  "  army  met  the  king 
Naseby  ^^  Nascby.  As  at  Marston  Moor,  so  at  Naseby, 
(1645).  Cromwell's  Ironsides  won  the  day.  The  king's 
cause  was  utterly  ruined ;  he  never  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  an  armed  force  again.  But  more  fatal  to  him 
than  the  loss  of  his  army  was  that  of  his  writing-desk, 


1646.]  CHARLES   FLEES  TO   THE   SCOTS.  I95 

which  proved  to  be  filled  with  papers  showing  his 
terrible  faithlessness  to  his  promises  and  his  people. 
The  war  was  virtually  ended  at  Naseby;  but  it  was 
not  until  two  years  had  passed  away  that  Harlech  Cas- 
tle, the  last  royalist  stronghold,  surrendered.  Then, 
at  length,  in  the  words  of  one  of  Charles's  faithful  fol- 
lowers, "the  conquerors  might  go  to  play,  unless  they 
fell  out  among  themselves."  Unfortunately,  this  last 
was  just  what  they  did. 

The  Puritan  leaders  may  have  expected  that  the 
king,  after  so  many  defeats,  would  yield  to  their  de- 
mands.    But  no  such  idea  seems  to  have  crossed  ^,    , 

Charles 

the  mind  of  Charles.  On  the  contrary,  seeking  flees  to 
refuge  with  the  Scottish  soldiers,  he  tried  by 
promises  to  induce  them  to  take  his  side,  and  to  make 
war  on  their  English  allies.  If  Charles  had  not  de- 
ceived them  already  so  many  times,  they  might  have 
done  as  he  wished;  for  they  were  discontented  at  the 
growing  strength  of  Cromwell  and  his  Ironsides,  who 
were  no  Presbyterians.  As  it  was,  however,  they  put 
no  faith  in  the  word  of  a  king,  and,  on  condition  that 
their  expenses  should  be  paid,  handed  him  over  to  the 
commissioners  of  Parliament.  The  king  now  saw  that 
his  best  course  was  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Pres- 
byterian leaders  in  Parliament ;  so  he  agreed  to  do  what 
they  wished  with  regard  to  religion.  But  this  did  not 
at  all  suit  the  army. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  P^airfax  and  Cromwell, 
when  they  enlisted  the   soldiers  of  the  "New  ^^^ 
Model,"  asked  no  man  what  his  religion  was.  indepen- 

T  11  1  •       •  r      1        dents. 

It  turned  out,  however,  that  a  majority  or  the 
soldiers  were,   like  their  great  leader.    Independents. 
That    is,    they   thought   that    every   Christian    had    a 


196  THE   CIVIL  WARS.  [1647. 

right  to  worship  as  he  saw  fit,  always  excepting  the 
Roman  Catholics.  They  had  no  wish  to  have  a  Pres- 
byterian Church  thrust  upon  the  nation.  So  one 
evening,  before  any  treaty  between  the  king  and  the 
The  Parliament  was  concluded,  an  army  officer  ap- 
seizes  the  P^arcd  at  Holmby  House,  where  the  king  was 
'^'"s-  imprisoned  by  Parliament.  He  called  upon 
the  king  to  accompany  him.  The  next  morning  this 
demand  was  repeated,  as  the  king  had  at  first  refused 
to  comply.  "Where  is  your  commission.-*  "  asked  the 
king.  "There,  behind  me,"  answered  Joyce  (for  that 
was  the  officer's  name),  pointing  to  his  soldiers.  "  Your 
instructions  are  written  in  a  very  legible  character," 
said  the  king,  and  he  went  with  the  officer. 

The  army  next  turned  the  Presbyterian  leaders  out 
of  Parliament;  and  when  the  London  mob  interposed 
in  their  favor,  the  army  marched  through  the  City,  and 
put  an  end  to  all  opposition.  Meantime  Cromwell  and 
the  other  officers  had  been  trying  to  get  Charles  to  con- 
sent to  certain  propositions,  securing  to  all  English- 
men, except  the  Roman  Catholics,  freedom  of  worship 
and  a  more  equal  representation  in  Parliament  and  on 
the  juries.  But  Charles,  believing  that  London  would 
prove  too  strong  for  the  army,  refused  his  consent. 
When  he  saw  his  hopes  dashed  to  the  ground,  he 
escaped  from  his  jailers,  and  rode  rapidly  to  the  south  of 
England,  where  he  was  stopped  by  Colonel  Hammond, 
and  locked  up  in  Carisbrooke  Castle,  on  the  Lsle  of 
Wight. 

There  now  came  another  attempt  to  induce  the  king 
to  agree  to  a  treaty;  but  before  anything  was  con- 
cluded it  became  known  that  Charles  was  negotiating 
with  the  Scots.     Indeed,  he  had  promised  that  if  they 


1648.J  BATTLE  OF  PRESTON.  1 9/ 

would  set  him  on  his  throne  again,  he  would  establish 
Presbyterianism  for  three  years  as  the  state  church. 
This  was  perhaps  the  worst  thing  that  he  could  have 
done;  for  however  much  they  differed  among  them- 
selves on  religious  affairs,  the  great  body  of  the  patriots 
was  united  against  having  these  questions  decided  for 
them  by  the  Scots.  They  forgot  their  differences, 
and  bent  all  their  energies  against  the   Scots  Scots 

inv3.dc 

and  the  Royalists.  But  first  the  soldiers  held  England 
a  prayer-meeting,  and  resolved  that  if  they  were  ^'  "^  ^* 
victorious,  they  would  bring  "  Charles  Stuart,  that  man 
of  blood,  to  account  for  that  blood  he  had  shed,  and 
mischief  he  had  done  to  his  utmost  against  the  Lord's 
cause,  and  people  of  these  i^oor  nations." 

While  Fairfax  was  beating  the  Royalists  in  the 
eastern  and  southern  counties,  Cromwell  captured  Pem- 
broke, and  then  went  in  search  of  the  Scots.    He 

.      T  1  •  Battle  of 

came  upon  them  near  Preston,  in  Lancashire,  as  Preston 
they  were  marching  southward,  unsuspicious  of 
danger.       They  were    scattered  along  many  miles  of 
road,  and  the  Ironsides  dashed  down  first  on  one  body, 
and  then  on  another,   until,   after  three  days  of  hard 
fighting,   the  Scottish  army  was  no  more. 

Now,  while  the  army  was  thus  employed,  Parliament 
had  been  negotiating  with  the  king.  But  he,  hoping 
even  to  the  last,  had  delayed  too  long  before  yielding 
The  army  returned  to  London,  and  told  Parliament 
to  stop  their  negotiations,  and  to  bring  the  king  to 
justice.      Parliament  refused.     Then  one  morn-  ,, ^.,. 

,  "  Pride's 

mg  the  members  found  Colonel  Pride's  regiment  Purge" 
surrounding   the    Parliament    House.      Colonel    '  ^ 
Pride   himself  was  at    the    door,    and  as  fast   as   the 
Presbyterian   members   appeared,   they  were  arrested 


IQS  the   civil   wars.  [1649 

and  taken  to  a  neighboring  tavern.  This  was  repeated 
the  next  day,  until  at  length  the  House  of  Commons 
was  "purged,"  as  they  called  it,  of  all  members  op- 
posed to  the  army.  The  Commons  then  voted  that 
there  should  be  no  more  debate  with  the  kin^c,  but  that 
he  should  be  brought  to  London  and  tried  for  his  life 
before  a  court  established  for  that  purpose.  The 
Lords  —  for  there  were  twelve  peers  who  still  sat  in 
the  upper  house  —  refused  their  consent.  The  Com- 
mons then  voted  that  the  consent  of  neither  king  nor 
Lords  was  essential  to  legislation.  The  army,  to 
make  sure  of  its  control,  had  again  taken  possession 
of  the  king.      He  was  brought  to  London.      He  refused 

to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  court,  and, 
king  ex-  being   found    guilty  of   treason,   was    beheaded 

before  his  palace  of  Whitehall  on  the  30th  of 
January,  1649.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  pre- 
vious faults  of  Charles  L,  he  met  his  death  like  a  king. 
In  the  words  of  the  poet,  Andrew  Marvell,  — 

"  He  nothing  common  did  or  mean 
Upon  that  memorable  scene, 

But  with  his  keener  eye 

The  axe's  edge  did  try ; 
Nor  called  the  gods,  with  vulgar  spite, 
To  vindicate  his  helpless  right ; 

But  bowed  his  comely  head 

Down,  as  upon  a  bed." 

The  army  was  now  supreme  in  England  and  Scot- 
land, so  that  Cromwell  was  at  liberty  to  turn  his  atten- 
tion to  Ireland.  The  Puritans  had  never  forgotten  the 
massacres  of  1641 ;  and  the  Irish  had  added  to  the 
hatred  with  which  they  were  regarded,  by  entering 
into  an  engagement  to  fight  in  the  king's  arrqy.     They 


1649J  MASSACRE  OF  DROGHEDA.  1 99 

plainly  could  expect  no  mercy  from  the  Ironsides,  and 
they  got  none. 

Cromwell  landed  at  Dublin  in  August,  1649.  A 
month  later  he  took  Drogheda  by  storm.  In  the 
heat  of  the  action  he  ordered  his  soldiers  to  spare  no 
one  found  with  arms  in  his  hands;  and  so  none  Massacre 
were  spared,  not  even  the  priests,  whom  the  heck'^^^" 
Puritans  hated  with  the  most  bitter  hatred.  ^'^'*9). 
Cromwell  felt  that  some  explanation  was  required  for 
such  a  barbarous  act,  even  in  an  age  when  the  horrors 


WAGON    OF   THE   SECOND    HALF   OF   THE    SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

FROM  loggan's  Oxo/iia  Illustrata. 


of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany  were  still  fresh 
in  men's  minds.  So  he  wrote  to  the  Speaker  of  the 
"Rump,"  as  Parliament  was  called  after  Pride's  Purge, 
that  this  slaughter  was  a  righteous  judgment  upon  the 
Irish  for  the  massacres  of  1641.  He  added  that  the 
remaining  garrisons,  seeing  what  their  fate  would  be 
if  they  resisted  to  the  end,  would  surrender  before 
the  storm,  and  that  thus  bloodshed  would  be  avoided. 
There  may  have  been  some  truth  in  this,  for  the  future 


200  THE  CIVIL  WARS.  [1649. 

conquest  was  easy,  and  In  a  few  months  Cromwell  was 
able  to  leave  it  to  other  hands,  and  to  return  to  Eng- 
land, where  his  presence  was  much  needed.  In  the 
end,  the  Irish  were  mainly  driven  out  of  three  of  the 
four  provinces  into  which  Ireland  is  divided,  and  were 
left  to  starve,  as  they  had  left  the  English  settlers  to 
starve  years  before.  The  only  difference  was  that, 
as  there  were  more  Irish  than  English,  there  was  now 
more  suffering.  Some  years  later,  the  Irish  again  tried 
to  uphold  the  Stuart  cause,  and  were  again  defeated ; 
but  the  complete  subjection  of  the  island  really  dates 
from  this  **  Cromwellian  settlement." 


OUTLINE. 

The  two  armies.  Death  of  the  old  leaders.  Oliver  Cromv/ell: 
his  idea  of  what  an  army  should  be ;  his  first  great  victory. 
The  reorganized  army,  or  "  The  New  Model,"  and  the  battle  of 
Naseby.  Charles  negotiates  with  the  Scots  and  "The  New 
Model."  The  Scots  join  him  and  are  overwhelmed  at  Preston. 
*'  The  New  Model "  excludes  from  Parliament  those  opposed  to  it 
and  executes  the  king.     Cromwell  conquers  Ireland. 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  Which  party  had  the  advantage  at  first  ?    What  did  Cromwell 
do  to  improve  the  Parliamentary  Armies.? 

2.  Define  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  New  Model,  Independents. 

3.  Describe  the  outbreak  of  the  Second  Civil  War. 

4.  Whom  did  Colonel  Pride  exclude  from   Parliament.?     Why 
was  Chades  executed  ? 

5.  Why  could  the  Irish  "  expect  no  mercy  from  the  Ironsides  "  ? 


TOPICS.  201 


TOPICS. 


1.  The  Battle  of  Marston  Moor,  or  Naseby,  or  Preston.  C. 
H.  Firtli's  Oliver  Cronnuell  {^Heroes  of  the  Nation  Series). 

2.  Write  a  brief  sketch  of  Cromwell's  career  from  this  history, 
or  a  detailed  account  of  some  portion  of  his  life  from  Firth's 
Cromwell. 


202  THE  COMMONWEALTH.  [1649. 


CHAPTER  XXVIL 

THE    COMMONWEALTH. 
I 649-1 653. 

THE  Scots  had  never  given  up  the  hope  of  living 
under  a  Presbyterian  ruler;  so  they  invited 
Charles  I.'s  eldest  son,  Prince  Charles,  or  Charles  H., 
as  they  called  him,  to  be  their  king.  He  came ;  but 
^.    ,       before  he  was  allowed  to  land,  he  was  compelled 

Charles  ^        '■ 

II.  in  to  swear  to  the  Covenant  and  to  promise  to  be 
'  a  good  Presbyterian.  The  young  Charles  cared 
very  little  for  religion,  and  was  very  desirous  of  being 
a  king.  So  he  promised  everything  they  asked  of  him, 
and  was  allowed  to  land  and  to  be  declared  king.  For 
a  time  the  English  leaders  hardly  knew  what  to  do. 
Here  was  a  young  Charles  ready  to  march  through 
England,  and  there  was  every  reason  to  suppose  that 
many  who  had  fought  against  the  old  king  would 
not  fight  against  his  son,  as  he  had  never  yet  done 
anything  despotic,  and  indeed  had  never  had  the 
opportunity.  And  besides,  the  Presbyterian  leaders 
in  the  first  rebellion  were  so  dissatisfied  at  being  gov- 
erned by  the  Independents  in  the  army  that  it  was 
probable  they  would  welcome  the  prince  with  open 
arms  as  a  deliverer.  It  was  therefore  decided  by  the 
English  leaders  that  he  must  be  captured  or  driven 
back  to  France,  and  that  Scotland  must  be  brought 
under  English  rule.      Fairfax  refused  to  lead  the  Eng- 


iGsi.]  BATTLE   OF  WORCESTER.  203 

Ash  army,  as  he  could  not  see  why  the  Scots  should 
not  manage  their  own  affairs  as  they  chose.  But 
Cromwell  was  of  a  different  way  of  thinking,  and  he 
led  the  army  to  Edinburgh. 

But  the  Scots,  who  had  learned  the  strength  of  the 
Ironsides  at  Preston,  retired  to  the  city,  carrying  with 
them  all  the  food  from  the  surroundint^  country.         ,    ■ 

^ .  -^       Battle  of 

Cromwell  dared  not  attack  them  in  their  strong  Dunbar 
position,  and  retreated  to  Dunbar,  where  he  '  ^° 
could  get  provisions  from  his  fleet.  The  Scots  fol- 
lowed, and  posted  themselves  on  top  of  a  hill,  where 
Cromwell  could  not  get  at  them,  and  whence  they 
could  attack  him  whenever  a  good  chance  offered,  and 
especially  if  he  should  try  to  march  back  to  England. 
At  last  it  seemed  that  their  opportunity  had  come. 
So,  late  one  afternoon,  when  they  thought  Cromwell 
could  not  see  them,  they  descended  the  hill,  and  pre- 
pared to  surprise  him  the  next  morning.  But  he  had 
seen  them;  and,  as  they  were  setting  out  on  their 
march  to  surprise  him,  the  Ironsides  burst  upon  them, 
and  in  one  short  hour  swept  the  Scottish  army  to  utter 
ruin. 

The  next  winter  and  spring  Cromwell  passed  in 
Scotland,  capturing  some  strong  places,  and  trying  to 
force  into  action  another  army  which  the  young  king 
had  raised.  For  a  time,  the  Scots  were  too  wary  for 
him.  Then  turning  southward,  they  marched  into  Eng- 
land. Charles  probably  hoped  that  his  father's  friends 
would  rally  to  his  aid.  But  they  had  been  so  roughly 
treated  after  Preston  that  they  dared  not  show  Battle  of 
their  faces.  Cromwell  overtook  the  Scots  at  ter""^"^ 
Worcester,  and  after  a  severe  fight  routed  them.  ('^5'). 
Almost  alone,  and  after  many  hair-breadth  escapes,  the 


204  THE  COMMONWEALTH.  [1652. 

young  prince  found  his  way  to  the  sea-coast,  and  thence 
to  France.  It  is  related  that  during  his  flight  he 
sought  refuge  amidst  the  leaves  of  a  wide-spreading 
oak;  and,  until  within  the  recollection  of  men  now 
living,  he  who  wished  to  show  respect  to  the  Stuart 
cause  would  hang  an  oak-branch  over  his  doors.  But 
the  victory  at  Worcester  put  an  end  for  a  time  to  the 
hopes  of  the  exiled  prince.  It  was  indeed,  as  Crom- 
well said,  "a  crowning  mercy;"  for  it  was  the  last 
battle  of  the  civil  wars.  So  long  as  the  best-dis- 
ciplined army  of  the  day  remained  of  one  mind, 
and  under  the  guidance  of  the  greatest  commander 
of  his  time,  no  one  dared,  after  this,  to  oppose  it  in 
battle. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles  L,  Parliament  had  de- 
clared that  there  should  be  no  more  kings  in  Eng- 
land. In  the  future  the  country  should  be  governed 
by  a  Parliament  of  one  house.  They  called  this 
new  form  of  government  "  The  Commonwealth. "  In 
reality,  however,  it  was  no  republic,  but  a  government 
by  an  oligarchy,  or  small  number  of  persons.  For  what 
with  "Pride's  Purge,"  and  the  abolition  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  the  Long  Parliament  had  dwindled  down  to 
The  an  assembly  of  only  about  fifty  members,  the 
PaS  Rump  Parliament,  as  it  was  called.  Now,  among 
ment.  thcsc  there  were  many  dishonest  men,  who  voted 
to  exempt  from  confiscation  the  property  of  any  Royal- 
ists who  paid  them  a  sufficiently  large  bribe.  This, 
of  course,  made  all  honest  men  very  angry. 

After  the  great  victory  at  Worcester,  Cromwell  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  this  opposition.  He  and  the 
army  demanded  that  there  should  be  a  new  election. 
The  "  Rump  "  seemed  to  agree  to  this.     But  one  day 


i652.] 


THE   RUMP   PARLIAMENT. 


205 


'ocvnmj 


ia  ^tat\62,.m 


ont  (^^^  ^ 

|ll|lllllllllllllllllllHllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli 


JOHN    MILTON,   THE   PURITAN    POET. 


Cromwell  found  that,  in  spite  of  promises  which  the 
leaders  had  made  to  him,  they  were  about  passin^:  a 
bill  to  make  themselves  members  of  the  new  Parlia- 


206  'fHE   COMMONWEALTH.  [ibs^. 

ment,  whether  they  should  be  re-elected  or  not.  Crom- 
well thereupon  went  into  the  House,  and  standing  in 
his  place,  accused  them  of  dishonesty.       He  declared 

that  they  had  forfeited  the  respect  of  the  coun- 
"  Rump  "try,  and  had  no  right  to  sit  longer.  Then,  call 
U65V     '^^S  ii^  his  soldiers,   he  turned  them  out,    and 

locked  the  door.  No  one  was  sorry  for  them, 
and,  as  Cromwell  said,  "  We  did  not  hear  a  dog  bark 
at  their  going."  The  army  officers  then  formed  a 
council  of  state,  and  upon  their  advice  Cromwell,  as 
head  of  the  army,  summoned  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  the  leading  Puritans  to  London  to  help  him 
govern  the  country. 

Years  after,  when  it  had  become  the  fashion  to  laugh 
at  the  Puritans,  people  called  this  assembly  "  Bare- 
Bare-  bone's  Parliament,"  after  Praise-God  Barebone, 
ParUat  ^  Wealthy  leather-dresser  who  had  a  seat  in  it. 
ment.  ^^^  ^\i  j|-g  members  were  not  mechanics,  nor 
did  they  all  bear  such  grotesque  names.  Yet  they 
had  little  practical  ability,  and  by  trying,  in  a  few 
short  weeks,  to  reform  the  abuses  of  a  hundred  years, 
they  accomplished  nothing,  and  were  glad  to  resign 
:heir  power  into  the  hands  of  Cromwell. 

The  army  officers  next  drew  up  an  "  Instrument  of 
Government,"  or  constitution,  as  we  should  now  call 
The  it.  Some  time  before,  Cromwell  had  declared 
menrof  that  "a  Settlement  with  somewhat  of  monarchi- 
menr""  ^^^  powcr  would  bc  vcry  effectual. "  And  this 
('653)-  constitution  made  the  chief  ruler  a  monarch  in 
reality,  though  only  called  Lord  Protector.  He  had 
all  executive  power,  although  he  was  obliged  to  con- 
sult his  council  of  state  upon  important  matters.  The 
power  to  raise  money  and  to  make  laws  was  given  to  a 


1653]  THE  INSTRUMENT   OF   GOVERNMENT.  20; 

Parliament  of  one  house,  which  was  to  meet  once  every 
year.  But  the  Lord  Protector  and  the  Council,  when 
the  Parliament  was  not  sitting,  could  make  temporary 
laws,  to  which  the  consent  of  Parliament  must  be 
obtained  at   its  next  session. 

It  was  impossible  that,  during  these  civil  wars,  lit- 
erature and  art  should  flourish,  as  had  been  the  case 
during  the  great  reign  of  Elizabeth;  but  John  Milton, 
the  Puritan  poet,  has  always  ranked  second  among  the 
great  poets  of  England. 

OUTLINE. 

Prince  Charles  (Charles  II.)  goes  to  Scotland  and  is  recognized 
as  king  by  the  Scots.  At  the  head  of  an  army  Cromwell-goes  to 
Scotland  and  wins  the  battle  of  Uimbar.  Later  the  Scots  invade 
England  and  are  utterly  overthrown  at  Worcester.  A  republic 
called  the  Commonwealth  established.  Corruption  and  misrule. 
Cromwell  and  the  soldiers  turn  out  parliament  and  call  one  of  their 
own.     Final  establishment  of  the  Protectorate. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  was  the  Covenant?    (See  p.  182.) 

2.  Describe  the  reason  for  the  war  with  Scotland. 

3.  Why  did  Cromwell  turn  out  "the  Rump  "? 

4.  Describe  the  powers  of  the  Lord  Protector.  What  other 
Protector  can  you  recall? 

TOPIC. 
A  battle,  as  Dunbar  or  Worcester.     Firth's  Cromwell. 


2oS  THE  PROTECTORATE.  [^653. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

THE    PROTECTORATE. 
1653-1659- 

OF  course,  there  was  but  one  man  who  could  have 
secured  the  support  of  the  army,  and  that  man 
was  Oliver  Cromwell.  So  he  was  invested  with  the 
office  of  Lord  Protector  with  as  much  pomp  and  cere- 
oiiver,  mouy  as  ever  had  been  witnessed  at  the  corona- 
Profec-  ^^^^^  ^^  a  king.  In  fact,  since  the  days  of  the 
tor.  "Grand  Remonstrance,"  Oliver  had  procured  a 
new  tailor;  and  one  writer,  who  describes  him  as 
being  at  first  harsh  and  rough,  says  that  he  now  pos- 
sessed "a  great  and  majestic  deportment,  and  a  comely 
presence." 

Oliver's  first  Parliament  came  together  in  Septem- 
ber, 1654,  and  immediately  denied  the  legality  of  the 
new  constitution.  The  Protector,  after  a  little  while, 
went  to  them  and  told  them  that  if  the  "  Instrument  of 
Government  "  was  illegal,  they  had  no  business  there. 
He  then  excluded  all  who  did  not  agree  to  recognize 
his  government,  and,  as  soon  as  the  constitution 
allowed,   dissolved  the  Parliament  itself. 

Scarcely  had  these  over-zealous  republicans  left  the 
House  when  two  Royalists,  Wagstaff  and  Penruddock, 
rode  into  Salisbury  at  the  head  of  about  two  hundred 
men.  They  turned  out  the  judges,  who  were  then 
holding  a  court  in  that  town,  but  they  gained  nothing, 


1655-]  WAR  WITH  HOLLAND.  209 

for  a  troop  of  Ironsides,  which  chanced  to  be  in  the 
neighborhood,  soon  killed  or  captured  most  of  them. 
This  little  rising  convinced  Cromwell  that  the  Royal- 
ists needed  to  be  watched  with  greater  care;  so  he 
divided  England  into  military  districts,  to  each  The 
of  which  he  assigned  a  major-general  and  a  ^ener'^is 
sufficient  number  of  soldiers.  The  Royalists  ('^^55)- 
were  made  to  pay  the  cost  of  this  supervision ;  but  the 
major-generals  acted  so  harshly,  "  like  so  many  Eastern 
Bashaws,"  that  all  good  people  were  offended.  In 
addition,  Cromwell  held  it  necessary  to  forbid  the 
celebration  of  divine  service  according  to  the  Episco- 
palian rites,  as  he  thought  that  such  meetings  were 
the  rallying  points  of  those  hostile  to  his  rule.  But 
this  order  was  never  strictly  carried  out,  and  meetings 
in  private  houses  were  seldom  suppressed.  The  open- 
ing chapters  of  Scott's  novel,  "Peveril  of  the  Peak," 
give  a  graphic  description  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
England  at  this  time. 

When  Cromwell  became  Protector  he  found  England 
at  war  with  Holland.      It  might  seem  at  first  sight  that 
as  both  countries  were  inhabited  by  Protestants,  ^^^^ 
and  had  similar  p:overnments,  they  would  have  with 

,     .   .         f  ^  ,   .  .  r        Holland. 

been  good  friends.  But  this  was  not  so,  for 
they  were  commercial  rivals.  It  chanced,  too,  that  at 
this  time  the  English  were  trying  to  get  the  carrying 
trade  away  from  the  Dutch,  and,  under  the  lead  of 
Sir  Harry  Vane,  once  governor  of  Massachusetts,  Par- 
liament had  passed  a  Navigation  Act,  compelling  Eng- 
lish merchants  to  import  goods  in  English  vessels, 
or  else  in  those  of  the  country  where  the  goods  were 
produced.  This  was  aimed  directly  at  the  Hollanders, 
and  the  two  nations  were   soon  at  war.     The   Dutch 

14 


210  THE   PROTECTORATE.  [1657. 

fleet  was  very  strong,  and  soon  drove  the  English 
ships  into  harbor.  Then  the  Dutch  admiral,  Van 
Van  Tromp,  sailed  up  and  down  the  English  Channel 
Tromp  ^i|-j^  a^  broom  lashed  to  his  masthead,  to  show 
^^^^^'  that  he  was  able  to  sweep  the  English  from  the 
seas.  But  this  did  not  last  long;  for,  after  a  series 
of  desperate  sea-fights,  Admiral  Blake  compelled  the 
Hollanders  to  cease  their  opposition  to  the  Navigation 
Act,  and  to  salute  the  English  flag  in  the  "narrow 
seas  "  surrounding  the  British  Isles. 

Cromwell  and  Blake  then  turned  their  attention  to 
the  Spaniards,  who  had  been  harboring  Prince  Rupert 
and  his  privateers.  Blake  soon  stopped  that  proceed- 
ing; and  Admiral  Penn,  father  of  Penn,  founder  of 
Pennsylvania,  failing  to  capture  San  Domingo,  seized 
the  island  of  Jamaica;  while  still  another  fleet  took 
possession  of  some  Spanish  treasure-ships  which  had 
so  much  silver  on  board  that  it  took  thirty-eight 
wagons  to  convey  it  through  the  streets  of  London. 

It  required  a  great  deal  of  money  to  fit  out  these 
fleets  and  to  pay  the  sailors.  Cromwell  could  have 
wrung  this  from  the  Royalists  by  the  aid  of  his  major- 
generals,  but  he  preferred  to  get  it  in  a  more  consti- 
tutional way  from  a  Parliament.  No  one  was  allowed 
to  sit  in  this  Parliament  who  was  hostile  to  him,  and 
therefore  he  had  little  difliculty  in  getting  the  money 
^^^  he  wanted.  In  return,  he  recalled  the  major- 
Petition  generals.  The  Parliament  then  adopted  a  "  Peti- 
Advice  tion  and  Advice  "  to  the  Lord  Protector,  which 
^^  ^^^'  was  really  nothing  but  an  amendment  to  the 
constitution.  In  some  ways  this  restricted  the  Pro- 
tector's powers;  in  others  enlarged  them.  It  provided 
also  for  a  new  body  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  House 


1658.]  DISSOLUTION   OF   PARLIAMENT.  211 

of  Lords,  gave  Cromwell  the  right  to  name  his  succes- 
sor, and  asked  him  to  take  the  title  of  king.  This  last 
he  refused,  as  the  soldiers  did  not  wish  him  to  accept  it. 
The  new  House  of  Lords  did  not  turn  out  well.  In  the 
first  place,  not  many  of  the  old  peers  were  willing  to 
sit  in  it,  and  some  of  those  created  by  Cromwell  hardly 
deserved  the  distinction.  Then  again  the  new  House 
of  Commons,  which  was  elected  to  work  with  it,  called 
it  in  contempt  "The  Other  House,"  and  refused  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  it.  In  an  angry  speech,  ex- 
claiming, "The  Lord  judge  between  you  and  me," 
Cromwell  dissolved  the  Parliament.  For  the  remainder 
of  his  life  he  ruled  England  by  the  strength  of  the 
army  und  by  the  silent  consent  of  a  majority  of  the 
people. 

If  Cromwell  was  strong  enough  at  home  to  rule 
without  a  Parliament,  that  "greatness  was  but  a  shadow 
of  his  glory  abroad."  He  became  the  head  of  Protes- 
tajit^urope,  and  his  alliance  was  sought  by  the  great- 
"est  monarchs  of  the  time.  He  decided  to  support 
France  in  her  war  with  Spain.  The  Ironsides,  under 
the  generalship  of  the  great  French  commander, 
Turenne,  proved  irresistible.  Dashing  over  fortifica- 
tions that  had  before  been  thought  impregnable,  they 
scattered  the  best  infantry  of  Spain,  just  as  they  had 
routed  Prince  Rupert  and  his  Cavaliers  years  before. 
Dunkirk  was  turned  over  to  Cromwell  as  the  price  of 
his  assistance. 

This  was  Oliver's  last  triumph  on  earth.  It  was 
m  the  same  summer  (of  1658)  that  George  Fox,  the 
Quaker,  interceded  with  him  on  behalf  of  his  fellow 
Quakers.  "Before  I  came  to  him,"  wrote  Fox,  "as 
he  rode  at  the  head  of  his    Life   Guards,    I  saw  and 


212  THE  PROTECTORATE.  [1658. 

felt  a  waft  of  death  go  against  him ;  and  when  I  came 
,  to  him  he  looked  like  a  dead  man."     In  truth, 

Death  of  -  ' 

Cromwell  anxictj  and  private  sorrow  had  worn  him  out ; 

^  "  and  on  the  3d  of  September,  as  the  anniversary 
of  Dunbar  and  Worcester  was  drawing  to  a  close,  he 
died. 

At  first  it  seemed  as  if  the  revolution  was  to  last 
longer  than  Cromwell,  and  his  eldest  son,  Richard, 
succeeded  him  as  quietly  as  ever  a  king's  son  had 
succeeded  his  father.  But  this  quiet  did  not  last  long. 
A  new  Parliament,  attempting  to  assert  its  power  over 
the  army,  was  turned  out  of  the  Parliament  House. 
Richard  then  tried  to  rule  the  army,  and  it  put  an  end  to 
the  protectorate.  The  officers  meantime  had  brought 
back  the  "  Rump."  But  the  members  of  that  body  had 
learned  nothing  by  experience.  They,  too,  tried  to  gov- 
ern the  army,  and  they,  ere  long,  were  turned  out  by  it. 

The  officers  then  governed  the  country  without  any 
attempt  at  concealing  their  usurpation.  Men  of  all 
parties  began  to  sigh  for  a  settled  form  of  government. 
Even  then  the  army  might  have  maintained  itself,  if 
it  had  remained  united.  Fortunately  for  English  lib- 
erty, however,  the  troops  in  Scotland,  under  General 
Monk,  could  not  see  what  right  their  fellow-soldiers 
in  England  had  to  rule  over  them.  So  they  marched 
to  London,  where  they  found  the  *'  Rump  "  once  more 
in  place. 

Now,  however,  there  came  another  complication. 
The  Londoners  refused  to  pay  taxes  levied  by  the 
Monk's  "  Rump,"  on  the  ground  that,  as  their  members 
policy.  1^^^  i^ggj^  excluded  at  the  time  of  "  Pride's 
Purge,"  they  were  not  represented  in  the  Parliament, 
and  therefore  were  not  bound  to  pay  any  taxes  levied 


i66o.]  monk's   policy.  213 

on  its  authority.  The  army  easily  put  down  this  little 
rebellion.  But  Monk  saw  clearly  enough  that  the 
mass  of  the  nation  was  impatient  of  the  rule  of  the 
army;  so  he  declared  for  a  free  Parliament.  It  is 
possible  that  he  did  this  because  he  thought  that  the 
return  of  the  Stuart  family  would  aid  his  own  advance- 
ment. At  all  events,  many  people  were  delighted  at 
the  prospect  of  getting  rid  of  the  army  and  the  "  Rump," 
and  fell  to  roasting  rumps  of  beef  on  the  street  corners 
in  London  with  such  vigor  that  Pepys,  who  wrote  a 
diary  of  the  events  of  this  period,  relates  that  he 
counted  thirty-six  fires  at  one  time.  The  Presbyte- 
rians once  again  took  their  places  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  after  making  provision  for  a  new  elec- 
tion, the  Long  Parliament  dissolved  itself  on  March 
16,  1660. 

At  this,  the  most  favorable  time  he  could  have 
chosen,  Charles  II.  issued  a  Declaration  from  the 
little  town  of  Breda,  in  Holland,  where  he  was  then 
living.  In  this  declaration  he  offered  a  general 
pardon  to  all  who  should  not  be  excepted  by  Parlia- 
ment from  forgiveness,  assured  holders  of  the  confis- 
cated Royalist  estates  that  they  should  not  be  ihe 
disturbed  in  their  possessions,  and  promised  to  tbn'"^^' 
persecute  no  one  on  account  of  his  religion.  ('^^°)- 
The  new  Parliament  came  together  in  April,  and  at 
once  invited  the  young  Charles  to  return  to  England, 
and  sent  a  fleet  to  convey  him  to  his  native  land.  He 
embarked  on  the  flag-ship,  whose  name  he  changed 
from  "Naseby"  to  "Charles,"  and  after  a  pleasant 
voyage  entered  London  on  the  anniversary  of  his  birth. 
May  29,  1660. 


214  THE    PROTECTORATE.  [1660. 

"  Oh,  the  twenty-ninth  of  May, 

It  was  a  glorious  day, 
When  the  king  did  enjoy  his  own  again! " 

Scott's  novel  of  "Woodstock"  gives  an  animated 
description  of  this  scene. 

The  army  that  had  so  fiercely  beaten  Charles  at 
Dunbar  and  Worcester,  now  disunited  and  powerless, 
received  him,  and  then  dispersed.  But  even  then  the 
Ironsides  showed  how  unlike  ordinary  soldiers  they 
were;  for  instead  of  becoming  paupers  and  a  burden 
on  the  community,  they  resumed  their  old  occupations; 
and  if  one  saw  a  particularly  industrious  farmer  or 
mechanic,  it  might  very  well  happen  that  he  would 
turn  out  to  be  one  of  Cromwell's  old  soldiers. 

Many  persons  suppose  that  the  Puritans  made  severer 
laws  than  any  persons  who  had  ruled  England  before 
Puritan  them,  and  that  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth 
ideas.  ^^^  Protectorate  was  a  period  of  great  intol- 
erance in  religious  matters.  But  this  is  quite  untrue. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Puritan  state  was  in  most  respects 
more  tolerant  and  humane  than  any  previous  English 
government  had  been,  and  many  great  legal  reforms 
date  from  that  time.  For  a  long  time  no  one  had  been 
burned  for  his  reHgious  opinions,  and  after  1640  no  one 
was  put  to  death  in  any  way  for  such  opinions,  except 
when  returning  to  England  after  being  previously  ban- 
ished. Of  course  this  fell  very  far  short  of  complete 
toleration,  but  it  was  a  great  advance  on  what  had  been 
the  earlier  custom.  Cromwell,  moreover,  allowed  Jews 
to  live  in  England  for  the  first  time  since  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  Torture  was  abolished  as  a  means  of  ob- 
taining confession,  though  it  lasted  nearly  a  century 
longer  in  most  European  countries.     The  principles  of 


i66o.]  PURITAN  REFORMS.  215 

the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  were  established  under  the 
Commonwealth,  although  the  Act  itself  did  not  follow 
until  later,  as  will  hereafter  be  shown.  It  also  became 
the  practice  to  examine  all  witnesses  in  open  court, 
instead  of  condemning  men,  as  had  sometimes  before 
been  done,  upon  evidence  taken  in  secret.  All  these 
were  great  steps  in  human  progress.  And  though  the 
Puritans  forbade  some  innocent  amusements,  yet  that 
was  but  a  trifle  compared  with  what  they  did  to  reform 
the  terrible  cruelty  of  the  early  English  courts. 

OUTLINE. 

The  Lord  Protector,  the  republicans,  and  the  royalists.  A  new 
commercial  policy  brings  on  war  with  Holland :  Van  Tromp  and 
Blake,  war  with  Spain,  seizure  of  Jamaica.  An  Amendment  to 
the  constitution.  Death  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  End  of  the  Pro- 
tectorate, and  of  the  Long  Parliament;  restoration  of  the  Stuart 
monarchy,  Charles  II.     Puritan  reforms. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  did  Cromwell  appoint  the  major-generals? 

2.  Describe  the  causes  of  the  Dutch  War.  Tell  all  you  know 
of  Van  Tromp,  of  Blake. 

3.  What  was  the  Petition  and  Advice  ?  What  was  "  The  Other 
House".? 

4.  Why  was  there  a  restoration  ? 

5.  Give  the  leading  points  of  the  Declaration  of  Breda. 

6.  Describe  some  of  the  reforms  of  the  Puritans. 


2l6  THE   RESTORED   STUARTS  [1660. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

THE    RESTORED    STUARTS. 
1660-1688. 

CHARLES  H.,  the  "restored"  king,  and  his  prin- 
cipal adviser,  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon, 
now  acted  as  though  nothing  had  happened  since  1641. 
They  even  called  the  first  law  that  was  passed  after 
The  the  "Restoration,"  the  Act  of  the  12th  year  of 
tbifr^'  Charles's  reign,  just  as  if  he  had  been  reigning 
fui66o-^^^^^  1649.  Now  it  was  easy  enough  to  print 
1685).  such  a  figure  in  a  book,  and  to  make  believe 
that  all  the  laws  of  the  Protectorate  and  the  Long  Par- 
liament were  no  laws  at  all.  But  the  Cavaliers  soon 
found  that  it  would  be  as  easy  to  make  everybody 
around  them  really  twenty  years  younger  as  to  undo 
all  the  work  of  those  twenty  years ;  so  they  found  it 
necessary  to  confirm  many  of  the  laws  of  that  period, 
among  the  rest  the  Navigation  Act.  They  found,  too, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  revive  many  old  customs 
which  had  gone  out  of  use  while  there  was  no  king  in 
England.  Thus,  in  old  times,  the  king  had  the  right 
to  make  the  heiresses  of  the  great  landowners  marry 
any  one  who  pleased  him,  whether  the  bride  liked 
the  man  or  not.  This  and  other  similar  rights  had 
bound  the  landowners  to  the  king,  and  had  made  it 
advisable  for  them  to  be  attentive  to  him,  and  to 
^^ote  as  he  wished  in  Parliament.     These  rights  were 


iC6o.] 


THE  RESTORATION. 


217 


now  swept  away  in  a  legal  manner,  and  it  was  soon 
found  that  the  ties  which  had  hitherto  bound  the  coun- 


CHARLES    II.:    FROM   THF    PORTRAIT   BY   SIR    PETER   LELY    IN 
CHRIST'S    HOSPITAL,    LONDON. 

try  gentry  to  the  king  were  greatly  loosened.     Before 
long,  indeed,  a  country  party  began  to  be  formed  to 


2i8  THE   RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1660. 

oppose  the  king  and  his  courtiers  by  their  votes  in  the 
Commons. 

During  the  civil  wars  the  lands  of  the  Church,  of  the 

king,  and  of  the  Royalists  had  been  mostly  confiscated. 

The  king  and  the  Church  now  had  their  estates 

Act  of  ° 

indem-     rcstorcd  to  them,  but  the  poorer  Royalists  were 

nity  and    .    ^  .      .  .    ,         , 

Oblivion  left  to  recover  theirs  as  best  they  might  through 
the  courts  of  law.  If  a  sale  of  any  kind  could 
be  proved,  they  could  not  get  their  estates  again, 
Even  when  they  did  recover  their  homes  they  could 
not  collect  any  rent  for  the  use  of  their  farms  and 
houses  during  all  these  years.  Moreover,  all  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  Great  Rebellion,  except  the  king's 
judges  and  a  few  others,  were  pardoned.  These  things 
were  done  by  what  is  called  "An  Act  of  Oblivion  and 
Indemnity  to  those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  late  dis- 
orders."  But  the  disappointed  Cavaliers  declared  that 
it  was  an  Act  of  indemnity,  or  reward,  for  the  Puritans, 
and  of  oblivion,  or  forgetfulness,  for  the  services  of  the 
king's  friends. 

Many  of  those  who  had  borne  a  prominent  part  in 
the  execution  of  Charles  I.  were  imprisoned  for  life, 
thirteen  were  hanged,  while  others  escaped,. 
Regi-  some  to  Switzerland,  some  to  New  England. 
These  last  could  never  be  found,  though  the 
king  sent  the  strictest  orders  for  their  arrest,  and 
although  we  now  know  a  good  deal  about  their  move- 
ments in  this  country.  The  most  unjust  execution 
was  that  of  Sir  Harry  Vane.  He  had  not  got  on 
well  with  Cromwell,  and  had  taken  little  part  in  the 
events  of  the  past  few  years ;  but  he  was  such  an  out- 
spoken republican  that  the  king  was  afraid  of  him,  and 
he  was  beheaded.     Yet  when  one  considers  how  many 


•66i.]  THE  CAVALIER   PARLIAMENT.  219 

were  guilty  of  treason  and  murder  in  the  eyes  of 
Charles  and  the  Royalists,  fourteen  executions  seem  a 
very  small  number,  compared  with  the  practice  of  ear- 
lier kings.  Indeed,  some  years  later,  when  the  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  crushed  a  little  rebellion  in  that 
colony,  Charles,  in  alluding  to  it,  declared  that  "the 
old  fool  has  taken  away  more  lives  in  that  naked  coun- 
try than  I  for  the  murder  of  my  father." 

In  the  day  of  their  triumph  the  Presbyterians  had 
often  treated  the  Episcopalians   with  harshness;  and 
if  they  expected  that  the  Episcopalians,  whom 
Ihey  had  restored  to  power,  would  treat  them   cavaiier 
ds  friends,  they  soon  found  that  all  such  expec-   ^^^'ilr 
tat  ions   were   vain.      It  was    in   the   spring   of   ^^J,^''^^" 
166 1   that  the  new  Parliament  came  together. 
The  House  of  Commons,  elected  in  the  midst  of  the 
reaction  against  the  Puritans,  was  so  completely  in  the 
hands  of  the   Royalists  that   it  went  by  the  name  of 
the  Cavalier  Parliament.      Later  on  its  members  be- 
came so  corrupt  that  they  took  bribes  from  all  sides, 
and  it  the^  was  called  the  Pensioned  Parliament. 

The  first  law  against  the  Presbyterians  and  Indepen- 
dents was  called  the  Corporation  Act,  because  by  it 
all  but  Episcopalians  were  turned  out  of  the 
offices  in  the  cities.  The  next  year  came  the  tion  Act 
Act  of  Uniformity,  requiring  all  ministers  and 
teachers  who  did  not  accept  everything  in  the  Episcopal 
service-book  to  leave  their  places.  Two  years  later  all 
religious  meetings,  other  than  those  of  the  Episcopali- 
ans, were  declared  illegal  by  the  Conventicle  Act.  By 
these  laws  all  the  Puritans  had  been  driven  from  the 
schools  and  churches.  It  so  happened  that  the  very 
next  year  (1665)  a  dreadful  disease,  called  the  Plague, 


220  THE   RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1665. 

raged  with  fearful  violence  in  London.  Every  one 
who  was  able  to  leave  the  city  ran  away  as  fast  as  he 
could.  Among  the  first  to  seek  safety  in  flight 
Plague  were  the  ministers  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
^^  ^^"  The  Nonconformists  thought  it  a  pity  that  the 
poor  in  London  should  die  without  the  consolation 
which  a  minister  alone  can  give,  and  they  took  the  pul 
pits  left  vacant  by  their  persecutors.  Their  reward  foi 
this  heroism  was  the  Five-Mile  Act,  which  forbade  any 
minister  who  had  not  subscribed  to  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity from  coming  within  five  miles  of  any  place  in 
which  he  had  once  been  a  minister.  To  make  sure 
that  these  various  laws  were  carried  out,  a  single  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  without  any  jury,  was  given  author- 
ity to  try  and  convict  these  people,  and  to  sentence 
them  to  transportation  for  seven  years  to  any  place 
outside  of  England,  except  to  New  England,  for  there 
they  would  find  friends  and  sympathizers. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  sufferings  of  these  pious 
men.  But  Richard  Baxter,  one  of  their  number,  has 
left  the  following :  "  Many  hundred  of  them,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  had  neither  houses  nor  bread. 
Some  lived  on  little  more  than  brown  bread  and  water, 
many  had  but  eight  or  ten  pounds  to  maintain  a  family, 
so  that  a  piece  of  flesh  has  not  come  to  one  of  their 
tables  in  six  weeks'  time.  Many,  being  afraid  to  lay 
down  their  ministry  after  they  had  been  ordained  to  it, 
preached  to  such  as  would  hear  them  in  fields  and  pri- 
vate houses  till  they  were  seized  and  cast  into  jails, 
where  many  of  them  perished."  The  result  of  this 
cruelty  no  one  foresaw  at  the  time;  for  in  the  end, 
instead  of  converting  the  Puritans  to  the  Established 
Church,    it  gave  them  a  hatred  for  that  Church,  and 


i666.]  THE   GREAT   FIRE.  221 

they  ceased  to  regard  themselves  as  a  part  of  it.     They 
formed  little  churches  of  their  own,   and  from    _ 

The 

Nonconformists  became  Dissenters,  or  people  Dissen- 
outside  of  the  regular  Church.  The  Episcopa- 
lians, finding  that  the  Dissenters  no  longer  wished  to 
change  the  forms  of  the  Episcopalian  service,  relaxed 
law  after  law,  until  now  religion  is  as  free  in  England 
as  in  our  own  land,  except  that  the  Episcopal  Church 
is  established  by  law  as  the  State  religion,  and  the 
various  forms  of  dissent  are  only  tolerated. 

The  Great  Plague  was  in  1665.  In  September  of  the 
next  year  many  of  those  who  had  escaped  the  plague 
saw  their  homes  and  places  of  business  burned  The 
down  by  the  Great  Fire  of  London,  without  being  ^wT 
able  to  save  anything.  The  fire  began  in  the  shop  (>666). 
of  a  French  baker,  near  the  end  of  London  Bridge.  In 
those  days  the  houses  were  built  of  wood,  and  thatched 
with  straw.  A  furious  east  wind  fanned  the  flames, 
and  before  the  fire  could  be  stopped  by  destroying 
houses  in  its  path,  London,  from  the  Tower  to  the 
Temple,  and  from  the  river  in  some  places  a  mile 
inland,   was  in  ashes. 

Baxter  has  left  us  a  vivid  picture  of  this  event :  — 

"  It  was  a  sight  that  might  have  given  any  man  a  lively 
sense  of  the  vanity  of  this  world,  and  all  the  wealth  and  glory 
of  it,  and  of  the  future  conflagration  of  all  the  world.  To  see 
the  flames  mount  up  to  heaven  and  proceed  without  restraint ; 
to  see  the  streets  filled  with  the  people  astonished,  that  had 
scarce  sense  left  them  to  lament  their  own  calamity ;  to  see 
the  fields  filled  with  heaps  of  goods,  and  sumptuous  buildings, 
curious  rooms,  costly  fiirniture,  and  household  stuff,  yea,  ware- 
houses and  furnished  shops  and  libraries,  all  in  a  flame,  and 
none  durst  come  near  to  receive  anything ;  to  see  the  king 


222  THE   RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1666. 

and  nobles  ride  about  the  streets,  beholding  all  these  desola- 
tions, and  none  could  afford  the  least  relief." 

So  wide  was  the  sympathy  excited  by  this  great  ca- 
iamity  that  collections  were  taken  up  in  the  New  Eng- 
land churches  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers ;  and  those 
of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  alone  sent  ;£io5  sterling. 

Meantime  the  English  and  Dutch  had  again  come  to 

blows  about    their  commercial  interests.      This    time 

the  Dutch  were  successful.     They  entered  the 

War  •' 

with  the  Thames,  and  sailing  into  the  Medway,  burned 
(1666-  Sheerness  and  the  shipping  at  Chatham.  They 
'^^''^'  then  blockaded  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  for 
some  weeks,  although  at  the  peace  which  followed, 
they  confirmed  England  in  her  possession  of  the  New 
iNetherlands,  which  were  now  called  the  Province  of 
New  York,  in  honor  of  James,  Duke  of  York,  the 
king's  brother.  Now  the  English  people  did  not  at 
all  like  such  defeats.  They  soon  discovered  that  much 
of  the  money  which  Parliament  had  voted  for  the  carry- 
ing on  of  the  war  had  gone  into  the  pockets  of  the 
worthless  men  and  women  by  whom  Charles  was  sur- 
rounded. They  were  too  loyal  to  accuse  the  king  of 
stealing,  but  they  fell  heavily  on  Clarendon,  who  had 
managed  to  offend  all  parties.  Knowing  that  many  of 
his  acts  would  not  bear  investigation.  Clarendon  fled  to 
the  Continent,  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
writing  his  attractive,  though  untrustworthy,  history 
of  the  Great  Rebellion.  The  Commons  then  declared 
that  no  more  money  should  be  voted  unless  an  officer 
in  whom  they  had  confidence  should  have  the  spending 
of  it.  This  was  a  very  serious  limitation  of  the  king's 
authority,  and  Charles  resisted  as  long  as  he  dared. 
But  the  Commons  were  in  earnest,  and  as  he  above 


;670.J      THE  SECRET  TREATY  OF  DOVER.       22^ 

all  did  not  wish,  as  he  expressed  it,  to  "set  out  on 
his  travels  again,"  he  yielded  to  their  demands,  and 
a  great  step  towards  parliamentary  government  was 
taken. 

There  were  many,  too,  who  remembered  the  victo- 
ries of  the  great  Puritan  Admiral  Blake.  They  con- 
trasted the  gayety  and  license  of  the  present  time  with 
the  morality  of  the  past,  and  "did  not  stick  to  say  that 
things  were  better  ordered  in  Cromwell's  time,  for 
then  seamen  had  all  their  pay,  and  were  not  permitted 
to  swear,  but  were  clapped  into  the  bilboes,  and  if  the 
officers  did  they  were  turned  out,  and  then  God  gave  a 
blessing  to  them."  In  those  old  days  Cromwell  had 
been  the  arbiter  of  all  Europe.  Charles  II.  was  now 
the  paid  servant  of  the  King  of  France. 

Louis  XIV.,  who  was  then  on  the  French  throne, 
wished  to  majke  France  the  foremost  country  in  Europe. 
As   a   step    in   this  attempt  he  determined   to  .^^^ 
seize  the  little  strip  of  land  on  the  north  of  g,ecret 

^  ^  Treaty  of 

France  which  we  now  call  Belgium,  but  which  Dover 
was  then  known  as  the    Spanish    Netherlands. 
Spain  was  too  weak  to  offer  much  opposition,  but  Hol- 
land was  strong,  and  did  not  at  all  relish  the  thought 
of   having   France   for   such    a   near   neighbor.      Now 
Louis  saw  that,   although   as  rivals    in   business,   the 
English  and  Hollanders  might  quarrel,  yet  as  fellow- 
Protestants  it  was  hardly  probable  that  England  would 
stand  still  and  see  Holland  defeated  by  France.     He  i 
therefore  offered  Charles  a  considerable  sum  of  money  I 
if  he  would  help  him  against  the  Dutch,  and  declare  » 
himself  a  Catholic.    Charles  agreed,  by  a  secret  treaty, 
signed  at  Dover  in  1670,  to  do  both  these  things,  for    I 
he  wanted  money,  and  was  at  heart  a  Catholic.     Louis    * 


224  THE  RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1673 

then  invaded  Holland.  But  the  sturdy  Hollanders  were 
not  easily  beaten.  The  young  Prince  of  Orange  was 
given  the  command.  He  cut  the  dikes,  and  let  the 
waters  of  the  ocean  flow  over  the  country,  except 
where  the  walls  of  the  towns  kept  them  out.  And 
the  French,  to  avoid  being  drowned,  ran  away  as  fast 
as  they  could.  The  English  people  now  forced  Charles 
to  make  peace  with  the  Dutch.  Some  years  after  this, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  William  by  name,  came  over  to 
England,  and  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  York.  We  shall  meet  with  him  again,  for  he  after- 
wards became  King  of  England. 

Nor  did  Charles  succeed  much  better  in  an  attempt 
to  make  things  easier  for  the  English  Catholics.  In 
D  ciar  ^^7^  he  issued  what  was  called  a  Declaration 
tion  of     of  Indulgence,  because  by  it  the  king  gave  notice  ' 

Indul-  -^ 

gences     to  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  Dissenters  that  , 
^        the    laws    aimed    against    them   would    not    be  i 
carried  out.     These  last  might  have  accepted  this  in- 
dulgence   for   themselves;    but    when    it   was    offered 
to  the  Catholics  also,   the  Dissenters  refused  to  take  1 
any  advantage  of  it.      Moreover,  they  joined  with  the 
Episcopalians  in  Parliament,  and  compelled  the 
Test  Act  king  to  recall  it.      They  even  went  further,  and 
'  passed    the    Test  Act,   requiring  all    the   great   ' 

officers  of  state  to  take  part  in  the  service  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church  or  resign.  This  was  especially  aimed  at 
the  Duke  of  York,  who  was  supposed  to  be  a  Catholic, 
and  he  acknowledged  the  truth  of  the  suspicion  by 
resigning. 

It  may  be  that  even  then  the  existence  of  the  Secret 
Treaty  of  Dover  was  known,  by  which  Charles  had  sold 
himself  to  the  French  king.       But  the  full  extent  of 


1678.]  POPISH   PLOT.  225 

his  infamy  was  not  known  until  the  spring  of  1678, 
when  Ralph  Montague,  then  English  minister  to 
France,  suddenly  appeared  in  his  place  in  the  Com- 
mons, and  read  a  letter  ordering  him  to  tell  Louis 
that,  if  he  would  pay  Charles  ;^24,ooo  a  year  for  three 
years,  England  would  remain  neutral  in  the  war  which 
France  was  then  waging  against  Holland.  A  post- 
script to  this  letter  was  in  the  king's  own  handwriting, 
and  the  date  of  the  letter  was  only  five  days  after  the 
Commons  had  actually  voted  money  to  enable  Charles 
to  aid  the  Dutch.  Naturally  the  whole  nation  was 
furious.  The  Commons  could  not  touch  the  king,  but 
they  impeached  Danby,  the  Secretary  of  State. 

It  was  while  the  people  were  thus  wrought  up  that 
Titus  Oates  appeared  before  Sir  Edmondsbury  God- 
frey, and  on  his  oath  declared  that  the  Roman 
Catholics  were  plotting  to  murder  the  king,  in  Plot" 
order  to  put  the  Catholic  James,  Duke  of  York,  "^ 
on  the  throne.  In  ordinary  times  no  one  would  have 
l)laced  any  confidence  in  what  Oates  said,  for  he 
was  a  miserable  wretch,  and  James  was  so  unpopular 
that  Charles  said  to  him,  "No  one  will  murder  me  to 
set  you  on  the  throne."  But  these  were  no  ordinary 
times,  and  a  few  days  later  the  excitement  grew  into 
a  perfect  frenzy  when  Sir  Edmondsbury  Godfrey  was 
found  on  a  lonely  hillside  with  a  sword  sticking  in 
his  lifeless  body.  To  this  day  no  one  really  knows 
whether  he  killed  himself  or  was  murdered.  At  the 
time,  however,  most  Englishmen  believed  that  the 
Catholics  had  killed  him,  and  were  very  ready  to  be- 
lieve anything  that  Titus  Oates  might  say.  There 
may,  indeed,  have  been  some  truth  in  the  story.  At 
any  rate,  many  Catholics  were  executed,  and  because 


226  THE   RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1679, 

Oates  had  declared  that  the  London  fire  had  been  the 
work  of  Catholics,  a  lying  inscription  to  that  effect 
was  placed  on  the  monument  which  marks  the  spot 
where  it  was  first  discovered.  This  inscription  was 
taken  down  at  James's  accession.  It  was  replaced 
after  the  Revolution  of  1688,  and  was  not  finally- 
removed  until  1 83 1.  Even  more  unjust  was  a  law 
excluding  Catholics  from  the  House  of  Lords ;  and  this 
was  not  repealed  till   1829. 

The  Cavalier  Parliament,  which  had  been  so  loyal  at 
its  first  assembling,  had  now  become  very  hostile  to 
Habeas  the  king.  He  dissolved  it,  and  a  new  Parlia- 
Corpus  j^gj^^.  ^^g^  -j^  March,  1679.  This  lasted  for  less 
(1679)-  than  three  months;  but  in  that  short  time  it 
passed  one  of  the  most  important  laws  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  English  race.  This  was  the  Habeas 
Corpus  Act.  Of  course,  ever  since  the  days  of  Magna 
Charta,  every  free  Englishman  had  possessed  in  theory 
the  right  to  a  speedy  trial.  But  in  practice  so  many 
obstacles  could  be  interposed  that  the  right  was  often 
denied.  By  this  Act  any  judge  was  obliged  to  grant 
at  any  time  a  writ,  or  paper,  addressed  to  the  jailer, 
ordering  him  to  produce  his  prisoner  in  court  at  such 
a  time,  and  to  show  cause  why  the  prisoner  should  not 
be  released.  The  judge's  order,  or  writ,  began  with 
the  Latin  words  Hadeas  cor/>?/s,  meaning,  "You  must 
have  the  body  of  such  a  person  before  me  at  such  a 
time,"  etc.  It  is  therefore  called  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  The  judge  and  jailer  were  subject  to  heavy 
fine  if  they  disobeyed  the  Act;  and  therefore  since 
that  time  no  one  has  been  imprisoned  in  England  for 
any  length  of  time  without  a  good  reason.  In  times 
of  great  public  excitement,  Parliament  has  sometimes 


1683.]  RYE   HOUSE    PLOT.  22; 

suspended  the  operation  of  the  Act,  thereby  giving  the 

Government  power  to  keep  suspected  persons  in  jail, 

even  when  a  clear  case  could  not  be  made  out  against 

them. 

This   Act  was  really  passed   because   people   were 

afraid  of  the  Roman  Catholic  James;  and  they  even 

went  further,   and    tried   to   exclude   him  from 

'  Exci  li- 

the succession   to  the  throne.      Unfortunately,  sion  Bills 

instead  of  naming  the  next  heir,  the  Princess 
Mary  of  Orange,  they  named  a  worthless  member  of 
the  royal  family,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth.  The  scheme 
fell  through ;  but  the  struggle  gave  rise  to  two  party 
names  that  have  ever  since  been  famous.  It  seems 
that  the  Presbyterians  in  the  west  of  Scotland  were 
called  '*  Whigs."  The  name  spread  to  England,  and 
was  applied  by  the  courtiers  in  derision  to  their  oppo- 
nents. These  in  turn  called  the  king's  men  "  Tories," 
—  a  name  under  which  some  wild  Irish  Catholics  had 
plundered  their  Protestant  neighbors.  And  as  Whigs 
and  Tories  the  two  parties  have  been  known  until 
recent  times;  and  the  same  names  were  formerly  used 
for  political  parties  in  America. 

The   bill  to  exclude  James  failed,   and  then  there 
was  a  reaction    in  favor  of   the  king.      Indeed,   for  a 
while  it  seemed  as  though  the  times  of  Charles    Rye 
I.  and  his  policy  of  "Thorough"  had  returned.    ^^^""^ 
Some    of   the    Whigs,    driven    to    desperation,    (»^^3)- 
planned  to  kill   the   king   at  a  lonely  spot   near  the 
Rye    House.      The    plot    was    discovered,    and    Lord 
Russell    and    Algernon    Sydney  —  to    whom    we    owe 
the   motto    on    the   shield  of  one  American    State  — 
were  unjustly  executed,  while  the  Earl  of  Essex  killed 
himself  in  prison.      The  defeat  of  this  plot  greatly 


228  THE  RESTORED   STUARTS.  [1685. 

strengthened  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  he  was  fast 
becoming  as  absolute  as  his  father,  when  he  died.'  On 
his  (death-bed  he  professed  himself  a  Roman  Catholic. 
As  he  had  no  lawful  descendants,  his  brother  James, 
Duke  of  York,  became  king. 

The  first  thing  James  the  Second  did  was  to  revenge 

himself  on  Titus  Gates  and  his  fellow  informers  for 

the    lies    they   had   told    about    the    Catholics. 

James  II.  1   •  i 

(1685-     They  were  whipped  so  severely  that  one  of  them 
^'      died.     But  Gates  had  strength  to  survive  and 
be  forgotten. 

The  king  then  undertook  to  suppress  the  rebellion 
which  had  broken  out  in  the  North  and  West.  In  the 
North  the  revolt  was  easily  subdued,  and  Argyle,  the 
leader,  executed.  But  the  rising  in  the  southwest  of 
England,  where  Monmouth  had  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  army,  was  not  so  easily  quelled. 
Indeed,  it  seemed  for  a  short  time  as  if  the  young 
king  —  for  such  Monmouth  declared  himself  to  be  — 
would  succeed.  His  soldiers,  however,  were 
Sedge- °^  poorly  armed  and  led.  They  were  beaten  in  the 
0680  battle  of  Sedgemoor,  which  should  be  remem- 
bered as  the  last  battle  fought  on  English  soil. 
Monmouth  himself  was  found  partially  concealed  in  a 
ditch,  and  was  taken  to  London  and  executed,  although 
he  begged  on  his  knees  that  his  father's  brother  would 
grant  his  life.  The  king  then  ordered  the  persecution 
and  death  of  all  who  had  in  any  way  helped  the  un- 
fortunate duke.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many 
were  killed,  but  in  one  county  two^hundred  and  thirty- 
three  persons  were  hanged.  Probably  at  least  jo^J^ 
hundred  lost  their  lives,  and  as  many  more  were  sold 
into  slavery.      All  this  was  done  by  a  judge  named 


i68s.]  THE  BLOODY  ASSIZE.  229 

Jeffreys,  at  a  session  of  court  which  has  ever  since  been 
called  "  The  Bloody  Assize."  The  name  of  Jeffreys  has 
always  been  infamous  in  consequence  of  these  trials; 
but  it  is  now  admitted  that  he  was  not  more  harsh  and 
brutal  than  was  the  custom  of  English  judges  at  his  day. 
There  was  then  a  great  deal  of  cruelty  and  brutality  in 
the  habits  of  the  English  race,  and  the  courts  shared 
this  bad  character. 

OUTLINE. 

The  government  of  tlie  Restoration  continues  many  parts  of 
the  Puritan  policy.  Little  political  persecution;  the  fate  of  the 
regicides.  Religious  persecution  of  the  Puritans;  sufferings  of 
tiie  Puritan  ministers  and  their  families.  The  Great  Fire  of 
London;  the  Plague.  Renewal  of  the  Dutch  War.  Corruption 
and  reform.  Charles  sells  himself  to  the  French  king.  Attempt 
at  toleration  of  the  Roman  Catholics;  the  Popish  Plot,  Habeas 
Corpus  Act,  Exclusion  Bills.  Death  of  Charles.  James  IL, 
Monmouth's  Rebellion,  and  the  Bloody  Assize. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  Act  of  Oblivion  and  Indemnity. 

2.  Why  was  Sir  Harry  Vane  executed  ?  What  happened  to  the 
regicides?     Who  were  the  regicides? 

3.  Describe  the  Corporation  Act,  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  the 
Conventicle  Act,  the  Five-Mile  Act.  What  was  the  result  of 
these  laws  ? 

4.  What  was  the  Second  Treaty  of  Dover?  Why  did  Louis 
make  it?     Why  did  Charles  make  it? 

5.  Describe  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act.  What  is  the  case  in  the 
United  States  ? 

6.  Give  some  idea  of  the  revenge  taken  by  James  for  Mon- 
mouth's Rebellion. 


230  THE   GLORIOUS    REVOLUTION.  [1688. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

THE    "glorious    REVOLUTION"    OF    1688-1689. 

AS  soon  as  Monmouth  was  fairly  out  of  the  way, 
James  threw  off  the  mask,  and  devoted  all  his 
energies  to  making  England  a  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
try.    Though  the  Test  Act  declared  that  no  one  but  an 

Episcopajian  could  hold  office,  James  appointed 
of^sir^^^  Sir  Edward  Hales,  a  Roman  Catholic,  colonel 
Haier'^    of  a   regiment.       The    judges,    who    had    been 

appointed  for  this  very  purpose,  declaring  that 
the  king  could  waive  the  penalties  of  a  statute  in  a 
particular  case.  Sir  Edward  Hales  retained  his  place 
until  he  became  governor  of  the  important  fortress  and 
prison,  London  Tower.  Roman  Catholics  were  by 
degrees  given  places  in  the  Privy  Council,  the  univer- 
sities, and  even  in  the  English  Church  itself. 

In    1598    Henry    IV.     of    France    had    issued    the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  giving  the  French  Protestants  equal 

political  rio-hts  with  the  French  Catholics,  and 

Revoca-     ^  ^  .  _         , .     . 

tionof  securing  to  them  a  certam  measure  of  religious 
of^  ^^  freedom.  Louis  XIV.  revoked  this  edict  in 
Nantes,  ^^^^  j^  .^  ^^.^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  thousand  Hugue- 
not families  fled  from  France.  Many  of  them  took 
refuge  in  England,  and  set  up  the  silk  manufac- 
ture in  the  Spitalfields,  now  a  part  of  London.  They 
were  very  poor,  and  a  collection  was  authorized  in 
their  behalf  in  the  churches.     But  King  James  was  so 


1688.]  THE   SEVEN  BISHOPS.  2}l 

afraid  that  the  ministers  would  tell  the  truth  about  the 
way  these  poor  people  had  been  treated  that  he  ordered 
the  clergy  not  to  preach  against  the  Roman  Catholics. 
The  Bishop  of  London,  refusing  to  punish  one  of  his 
subordinates  who  had  disobeyed  this  order,  was  him- 
self summoned  before  a  new  and  illegal  High  Commis- 
sion Court,  and  suspended  from  office. 

Now  James  determined  to  go  one  step  farther,  and 
grant  general  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  Englishmen,, 
whether  Protestants  or  Roman  Catholics.     This    ^  , 

Declara- 

was  entirely  different  from  dispensin^:  with  a  tion  of 
smgle  statute  in  a  particular  case.  It  is  proba-  gence 
ble  that  James  hoped  to  gain  the  Dissenters  to  ^^  ^* 
his  side  by  this  Act.  A  few,  indeed,  took  advantage  of 
it.  But  it  shows  the  bitterness  of  religious  hostility  at 
that  time  that  the  great  mass  preferred  to  suffer  all  the 
rigors  of  the  law  rather  than  to  see  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics well  treated.  The  clergy  had  been  ordered  to  read 
the  declaration  to  their  congregations,  as  that  was  the 
easiest  way  of  making  it  generally  known.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  and  six  bishops  petitioned  the 
king  not  to  insist  on  their  reading  it.  He  did  insist, 
however,  and  the  declaration  was  read  by  a  few  minis- 
ters who  were  too  timid  to  refuse.  As  for  the  arch- 
bishop and  his  companions,  the  Seven  Bishops,  as 
they  were  called,  James  had  them  arrested,  on  the 
ground  that  their  petition  was  a  seditious  libel.  They 
were  taken  to  the  Tower,  where  the  Catholic 
Sir  Edward  Hales  was  sure  to  keep  them  safe.  Seven 
But  the  people  were  on  their  side.  Even  '^  °^^* 
the  soldiers  on  guard  at  the  gateway  of  the  Tower 
knelt  before  them,  asking  their  blessing.  Later  they 
drank  to  their  good  health  and  acquittal.     The  excite- 


232  THE  GLORIOUS   REVOLUTION.  [1688. 

ment  spread  to  the  remotest  corners  of  England ;  and 
the  Cornish  miners  declared  their  intention  of  march- 
ing to  London  and  rescuing  their  beloved  bishop, 
Trelawney,  one  of  the  seven.  They  sang  a  song 
beginning,  — 

"  And  shall  Trelawney  die? 
And  shall  Trelawney  die  ? 
Then  thirty  thousand  Cornish  men 
Will  know  the  reason  why." 

This  sympathy  was  not  confined  to  the  Episcopalians. 
The  Nonconformists  visited  the  Tower,  as  did  also  an 
enormous  number  of  persons  of  all  grades  and  ranks, 
from  the  peers  down  to  the  humblest.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  this  excitement  that  a  son  was  born  to  James 
and  his  Roman  Catholic  wife  who  is  known  in  history 
as  the  Old  Pretender. 

No  one  but  Catholics  had  been  present  at  the  birth, 
and  the  English  people  generally  declared  that  the 
boy  was  no  son  of  the  king's,  but  some  spu- 
Preten-  rious  child  palmed  off  on  them  by  the  Jesuits. 
It  was  plain  that  the  child,  if  he  was  the  real 
son  of  James,  was  the  heir  to  the  English  throne,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Protestant  Mary  of  Orange,  wife 
of  the  heroic  William.  So  the  people,  especially  the 
Whigs,  refused  to  believe  that  he  was  a  genuine  son, 
and  determined  to  rebel  at  the  first  good  opportunity. 

Every  one  was  now  waiting  to  hear  the  result  of  the 

trial  of  the  Seven  Bishops.      For  a  long  time  the  jury 

wavered.       Eleven   of  the  twelve  were  for  ac- 

ine 

Seven      quittal.    The  twelfth  was  the  king's  brewer.     He 

Bishops  -I         111  '        -I    ' f  1 

acquitted  said  that  he  should  be  rumed  11  he  voted  against 
^^  ^*  the  king.  But  he  was  at  length  brought  over, 
and  the  verdict  of  "  Not  guilty  "  was  received  with  an 


1688.]  WILLIAM   LANDS.  233 

enthusiasm  witnessed  but  once  in  a  century.     Even 
the  royal  army,  which  James  had  brought  to  London 
to   put    down  a  rising,   should   there  be  one,   showed 
by  their  cheers  that  their  sympathies  were  with  the 
people.     The  Patriot  leaders  saw  that  now  at  last  the 
time  had  come  to  act.     Admiral  Herbert,  dis- 
guised as  a  common  sailor,  set  out  for  Holland.  1n\t,a- 
He  was  the  bearer  of  a  letter  signed  by  the  most  Yvliiirm 
influential  among  the  Whigs  and  Tories,  asking 
William  to  come  to  England  to  protect  the  rights  of 
his  wife  against  the  spurious  son  of  James.,  and  to  save 
England  from  a  Catholic  tyranri}*. 

William  joyfully  accepted  the  invitation.  He  loved 
his  wife,  and  did  not  wish  her  to  be  deprived  of  her 
rights.  But  above  all,  he  desired  to  be  king  of 
England,  that  he  might  use  England's  strength,  both 
of  men  and  money,  in  the  grand  struggle  he  was 
making  against  the  power  and  ambition  of  Louis  XIV. 
of  France. 

Everything  favored  William.  His  proclamation  was 
received  with  rejoicings,  while  the  concessions  made 
by  James  were  looked  on  with  suspicion,  as  wiiiiam 
people  saw  that  they  had  been  extorted  by  ^^"''^• 
fear.  Louis,  too,  offered  to  help  James,  by  attacking 
William,  and  thus  keeping  him  at  home  in  Holland. 
But  James  scornfully  refused,  and  the  French  king, 
in  a  rage,  sent  his  army  into  Germany.  Even  the 
winds  helped  William;  for,  though  at  first  adverse, 
the  breeze  soon  became  favorable,  and  then  increas- 
ing, the  strong  east  wind  —  "  the  Protestant  east  wind," 
as  they  used  to  call  it,  — drove  William's  ships  safely 
through  the  English  Channel,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  kept   the  English  fleet  cooped  up  in  the  Thames. 


2^4  Tllfi   GLORidUS    REVOLUTiOisr.  [i6§8. 

William  landed  at  Torbay,  in  Devonshire,  on  the  5th 
of  November,  1688,  the  anniversary  of  the  Gunpowder 
Plot. 

For  several  days  no  prominent  men  joined  him,  and 
it  is  said  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  returning  to 
Holland,  when  they  began  to  come.  Among  the 
runs  first  to  arrive  was  Lord  Churchill,  afterwards 
^^^^'  the  celebrated  Duke  of  Marlborough.  His  wife 
was  the  most  intimate  friend  of  the  Princess  Anne. 
And  so  it  fell  out  that  when  Lord  Churchill  deserted 
his  master,  the  Princess  Anne  ran  away  from  her 
father.  "  God  help  me !  "  cried  the  abandoned  James, 
"even  my  children  have  forsaken  me."  So  he  sent 
his  wife  and  son  to  France,  and  then  escaped  himself. 

Unluckily,  however,  some  fishermen  caught  sight 
of  him  as  he  was  leaving  the  shore.  Mistaking  him 
„  .        for  the  Jesuit  Father  Petre,   they  seized    him. 

He  IS  •'  ^  -^ 

brought    Soon  he  was  in  London    ao^ain, — ^much  to  the 

back. 

dismay  of  William,  who  would  have  had  the 
field  all  to  himself  if  he  could  have  said  that  James  had 
deserted  his  people.  James  was  easily  scared  away 
again,  however,  and  care  was  taken  this  time  that  he 
should  not  be  stopped.      Louis  received  him,  and  gave 

him  a  palace  to  live  in.  But  the  means  used  to 
Jacob-     get  rid  of  him  seemed  to  many  good  people  so 

very  much  like  force  that  they  took  his  side,  and 
were  called,  from  James's  Latin  name  of  Jacobus, 
Jacobites. 

William  now  summoned  the  Peers,  and  all  who  had 
sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second,  to  meet  him  at  Westminster 
and  advise  him  as  to  what  he  should  do.  Upon 
their  advice  he    summoned    a    Parliament,   though    it 


i 


1689]  DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS.  235 

was  called  a  convention  for  the  time  being.  It  met  in 
March,  1689,  and,  after  some  discussion,  offered  the 
crown  to  William  and  Mary  as  king  and  queen.  At  the 
same   time   the   Lords  and  Commons    presented 

Declara- 

a  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  the  people  of  tion  of 
England.  The  main  points  of  this  great  declara-  '^ 
tion,  which  was  afterwards  made  into  a  regular  law, 
were  that  the  king  had  no  power,  without  consent  of 
Parliament,  (i)  to  dispense  with  the  laws,  (2)  to  raise 
money,  or  (3)  to  keep  a  standing  army.  It  was  further 
declared  (4)  that  the  subjects  had  a  right  to  bear  arms, 
(5)  to  petition  the  king,  and  (6)  to  have  freedom  of 
debate  in  Parliament.  ('7)The  High  Commission  Court 
was  declared  illegal,  and  (8)  frequent  Parliaments  were 
declared  necessary.  On  these  terms  the  throne  was 
offered  to  William  and  Mary,  and  accepted  by  them. 
Henceforth  no  English  king  could  claim  to  rule  by 
divine  right,  but  only  by  the  will  of  the  nation. 

OUTLINE. 

James  II.  places  Roman  Catholics  in  important  offices.  The 
expulsion  of  French  Protestants  from  France.  James  issues  a 
declaration  of  a  general  liberty  of  religion.  The  Seven  Bishops 
petition  James.  They  are  tried  for  libel  and  acquitted.  Landing 
of  William  of  Orange.  James  flees,  and  William  and  Mary  be- 
come monarchs  of  England. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  were  the  Huguenots  ?  Why  was  the  Bishop  of  London 
suspended  ? 

2.  What  was  the  Declaration  of  Indulgence?  What  was  the 
position  of  the  Seven  Bishops.-*     What  happened  to  them? 

3.  Who  was  William  ?  Who  was  Mary  ?  Who  was  Anne  ? 
(Study  genealogy  on  p.  170.) 

4.  Describe  at  length  the  Declaration  of  Rights. 


2^6       THE  FIRST   CONSTITUTIONAL   MONARCHS.       [1689. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE    FIRST    CONSTITUTIONAL    MONARCHS. 

THE  Declaration  of  Rights  did  not  seem  to  be  all 
that  was  necessary  to  protect  the  people.  So, 
to  make  sure  that  no  king  could  again  turn  tyrant, 
Parliament  granted  William  the  revenues  from  customs 

for  a  few  years,  instead  of  for  life,  as  had  hereto- 
and  Mary  fore  bccu  douc.  Then,  too,  the  Commons  said 
17^"     ^^^^  f^^  ^^^  future  money  must  be  spent  on  the 

objects  specified  in  the  vote.  This  was  to 
guard  against  the  king's  obtaining  money  for  some 
particular  purpose,  like  the  navy,  and  then  spending 
it  to  keep  up  a  large  army  to  hold  the  people  down. 
Still"  further   to    guard    against   the    same    evil,   Parlia- 

ment  voted  the  bill  giving  the  army  officers 
Mutiny    control  ovcr  the  soldiers  —  the  Mutiny  Bill,  as 

Bill.  -^ 

it  is  called  —  for  one  year.  If  Parliament  for 
any  cause  should  wish  to  disband  the  army,  it  had  only 
to  refuse  to  pass  a  new  Mutiny  Bill;  for  when  the  old 
one  expired,  the  army  would  drop  to  pieces,  as  the 
soldiers  could  not  be  punished  for  disobeying  the 
officers.  And  this  practice  of  passing  money  and 
mutiny  bills  has  lasted  to  our  own  times.  This  is 
a  very  important  fact,  for  in  this  way  the  House  of 
Commons  has  obtained  control  of  the  government,  as 
it  is  in  that  House  that  money  bills  are  first  passed. 
The  king  was,  and  is,  obliged  to  have  for  his  ministers 


1     Longitude  West    0    LongitadB  EaM     1 


0>m>H  Ov.,H,»  rork. 


1689.J  RESPONSIBLE   GOVERNMENT.  23/ 

men  who  have  the  confidence  of  a  majority  in  that 
House;  in  other  words,  men  who  can  get  these  very 
bills  through  Parliament.  In  this  way  the  great  Brit- 
ish Empire  has  come  to  be  ruled  by  a  committee  of 
the  party  which  for  the  moment  has  a  majority  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  This  is  called  ''responsible 
government,"  as  these  men  are  responsible  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  through  it  to  the  jDCople  of 
England. 

The  next  thing  Parliament  did  was  to  pass  a  law  de- 
claring that  all  officers  in  church  and  state  must  swear 
to  support  William  and  Mary  as  king  and  queen. 
Non-  Many  good  people  still  believed  that  James  was 
jurors.  ^^^  ^^^j  king,  and  refused  to  swear.  They  were 
called  non-jurors  (non-swearers).  They  were  sincere, 
and  did  what  they  thought  was  right;  but  their  ac- 
tions made  William's  position  much  more  difficult. 
It  was  found  impossible  to  repeal  the  harsh  Acts  which 
the  Cavaliers  had  passed  against  the  Dissenters.  But 
one  great  step  was  made  in  the  passage  of  the  Tolera- 
tion Act,  allowing  Dissenters  to  stay  away  from  the 
Episcopal  service  without  being  fined. 

Now  that  William  was  firm  on  the  throne,  James  was 
glad  to  accept  the  helping  hand  held  out  by  Louis  of 
France.  The  Irish  were  devout  Roman  Catholics,  and 
were  thus  disposed  to  be  friendly  to  James.  It  is 
probable,  too,  that  the  Irish  leaders  hoped  that  by 
aiding  James  they  might  free  Ireland  from  the  Eng- 
lish yoke.  At  any  rate,  no  sooner  had  James  fled  to 
France  than  they  made  war  on  the  English  and  Pro- 
testant settlers  in  Ireland,  and  compelled  them  to  seek 
refuge  in  two  towns  in  the  northern  part  of  Ireland, 
EnniskiUen  and  Londonderry.     Soon  Jajnes  came  over 


238        THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHS.       [1689, 

with  some  French  soldiers,  and  siege  was  laid  to  the 
two  towns.  The  garrison  of  Enniskillen,  sallying  forth, 
drove   their  assailants  away.     Those  at  Londonderry 


WILLIAM    III.  :     AFTER    A    PORTRAIT    BY   J.   H     BRANDON. 


ate  everything  that  was  eatable   in  the   town,    inclu- 
ding all  the  rats  and  salt  hides.     Then  at  length 
London- two  London  ships  broke  through  the  obstructions 
^"^'     which  the   Irish   had   placed   in   the   mouth  of 


t()90.] 


BATTLE   Of  the:   BOYNE. 


239 


of  the  harbor,  and  the  town  was  saved,  after  one  of  the 
most  persistent  defences  in  history. 

The  next  year  William  himself  went  to  Ireland  with 


l\^l 

MM 

■^^ 

^^^^. 

^L  -— JHb        %^ 

i»G^ 

^fei  :^^  ^^^r                't^ 

psj^P^ 

^In                  ^'^"^^91 

P^v^*^ 

"*"          ^Mw                     1  ^Ja 

f^vV 

""^        J  jHr                         l^&l 

'^ 

JP^  ^1^        M 

iw^ 

^^^^■i^k,          -•-iIy\iJ 

5\^^^ 

l^&                                      '  ^^^s^M[         ^v^Js9b 

I'j^Krilfes.'t* 

|J|  1^                    ^^^^^^^^B 

r^rr.^p  1  '^. 

■■UHl^taMj^-w.      ■  .^Af-^^^^KSv^v^ 

«  ..  -  ^V'w*.;^^^''    /Mii^ 

^m 

mmL^,j^m^i^(^ 

i^^^P^B 

m^^^^^^^mtW^^^^-l 

^^mrntt^^  "^^^^  1 

MARY   ir.  :   AFTER   A    PORTRAIT   BY  J.    H.    BRANDON. 


a  famous  French  general,  —  Schomberg,  —  whom  Louis 
had  driven  from  France  because  he  was  a  Hugue-    ^^^^^^ 
not.     They  fought  with   James   and   his  French    of  the 

J  ir*  Boyne 

and  Irish  troops  at  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  and    (1690). 


240        THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHS.       [1690 

beat  him  so  thoroughly  that  he  fled  to  France  as  fast 
as  horse  and  ship  would  carry  him.  Nevertheless,  it 
took  several  years  to  reconquer  Ireland  thoroughly. 

The  news  of  this  great  victory  reached  England  in 
good  time,  for  Admiral  Herbert  —  now  Lord  Torrington 
Beachy  — had  bccu  badly  beaten  the  very  day  before 
Head,  ^y  ^^Q  French  off  Beachy  Head.  The  French 
admiral  then  landed  his  soldiers  and  set  fire  to  the  huts 
of  some  poor  fishermen  who  lived  in  a  little  town  in  the 
southern  part  of  England.  This  outrage  so  angered 
the  English  people  that  thousands  who  had  hitherto, 
been  lukewarm  now  came  to  the  assistance  of  William 
and  Mary,  and  did  all  they  could  to  save  the  land  from 
James  and  his  allies. 

In  fact,  all  danger  from  the  Jacobites  was  for  the 
moment  at  an  end.  William  crossed  over  to  Holland 
and  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  European  powers 
who  were  opposed  to  Louis.  Now  the  French  king 
thought  that  the  best  way  to  compel  William's  return, 
to  England  would  be  to  send  James  over  there.  So 
he  gathered  a  great  army  at  Boulogne.  James  was  so- 
sure  of  being  successful  that  he  drew  up  a  proclama- 
tion, telling  people  what  would  happen  when  he  was  on 
the  throne  again.  Among  other  things  he  said  that 
the  ignorant  fishermen  who  had  stopped  him  on  his 
first  attempt  to  escape  would  be  treated  as  traitors,  and 
have  their  heads  cut  off.  Indeed,  the  proclamation 
was  so  ridiculous  that  the  English  Government  re- 
printed it,  and  sent  copies  all  over  the  country  at  its 
own  expense.  But  James  never  got  to  England  again, 
for  an  English  fleet  under  Admiral  Russell  swept  from 
the  seas  the  French  fleet  that  was  to  have  conveyed 
him    to    England.     The   English   sailors   remembered 


i69S]  BANK  OF  ENGLAND.  24I 

the   humiliation    of    Beachy    Head,    and   now   at    La 
Hogue  sank,  captured,  or  drove  ashore  every  French 
ship.     They  even   rowed   in  small  boats  right 
up  to  some  ships  that  had  taken  refuge  under   Hogue 
the  guns  of  a  fort,  and  set  them  on  fire.     All     '  ^^  * 
this  was  done  under  the  eyes  of  James  himself.     There 
was  no  longer  any  need  for  William  to  feel  anxious  for 
England.     At  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  (1697)  Louis  was 
compelled  to  give  back  all  the  places  he  had  seized. 
This  was  mainly  owing  to  the  pluck  and  skill  of  Wil- 
liam ;   for  though  he  seldom  won    battles,    he    knew 
how  to  prevent  the   French  from  making  any  use  of 
their  victories,  —  and  that  is  sometimes  as  important 
as  winning  battles. 

The  fight  which  William  was  so  manfully  making 
was  not  merely  a  fight  for  the  Protestant  religion,  but 
a  struggle  for  English  liberty.  His  success  would 
benefit  succeeding  generations  for  hundreds  of 
years.  So  the  Government  borrowed  a  portion  financial 
of  the  funds  needed  to  support  the  armies,  the 
first  loan  being  made  in  1693.  It  was  the  beginning 
of  the  English  national  debt. 

At  this  time  there  were  no  banks  in  England.  All 
large  sums  of  money  were  collected  and  paid  through 
the  goldsmiths  and  silversmiths  of  London,  Bank  of 
who  in  this  way  acted  as  bankers.  Of  course  ^"8'*"^- 
this  was  not  a  very  secure  way  of  doing  business,  as 
everything  depended  upon  the  honesty  of  some  par- 
ticular man.  So  a  Scotchman  named  Paterson  agreed 
to  establish  a  national  bank.  As  an  inducement  for 
the  authorities  to  give  him  the  necessary  power,  he 
proposed  to  lend  to  the  Government  one-half  the  capi- 
tal of  the  bank.     Thus  the  Government  would  be  able 

lo 


242        THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHS.      [1692. 

to  borrow  money,  and  at  the  same  time  the  share- 
holders and  those  who  had  deposited  money  in  the 
bank  would  be  interested  in  the  stability  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  William,  because  if  it  should  be  overthrown 
they  would  never  get  their  money  back.  In  this  way 
the  Bank  of  England  was  established. 

Another  great  reform  was  the  recoinage  of  the  cur- 
rency. To-day  an  English  gold  sovereign  is  good  the 
world  over;  but  two  hundred  years  ago  this  was  not 
the  case.  The  money  then  in  circulation  had  been 
coined  with  smooth  edges.  Any  one  .could  clip  off  a 
little  without  its  being  noticed.  In  the  end,  however, 
so  much  might  be  clipped  off  that  the  coin  would  not 
be  worth  anything  like  its  face  value.  The  merchants 
refused  to  take  these  coins  in  payment,  except  by 
weight,  so  many  ounces  of  gold  or  silver  for  so  many 
pounds  of  bread  and  butter.  Of  course  this  was  very 
inconvenient,  and  the  Government  employed  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  the  great  philosopher,  to  make  some  new 
coins.  The  new  pieces  had  milled  edges,  and  could 
not  be  clipped. 

In  this  year,  too,  the  "Licensing  Act"  of  1660, 
which  had  placed  the  control  of  printing  in  the  Gov- 
ernment, expired  by  limitation,  and  Parliament 
of\he^  refused  to  renew  it.  Since  that  time  every 
(jSgl).  o^^  ^^s  ^^^^  ^t  liberty  to  publish  anything  he 
chooses.  But  he  is  responsible  for  what  he 
publishes,  as  he  is  for  everything  else  he  does. 

The  one  great  blot  upon  William's  name  ""is  the 
Massacre  "^^^^^^^^^  ^^  Glcucoe.  Ian  Maclan,  chief  of  the 
of  Glen-   Macdonalds,  who  lived  in  Glencoe,  in  a  fit  of 

coe. 

stubborn  pride  had  waited  until  all  the  other 
chiefs  had  taken  the   oath  of  submission  to  William 


1694]  DEATH   OF   QUEEN   MARY.  243 

and  Mary.  Then  he  went  to  the  nearest  fort,  and 
offered  to  take  the  oath ;  but  there  was  no  one  there 
who  could  administer  it.  Now  thoroughly  alarmed,  be- 
cause those  who  did  not  take  the  oath  before  a  certain 
day  were  to  be  declared  outlawed,  he  trudged  over  the 
snow  to  Inverary,  only  to  find  when  he  arrived  there 
that  it  was  too  late.  The  sheriff,  however,  made  out 
a  paper  to  the  effect  that  the  chief  had  tried  to  take  the 
oath  at  the  proper  time;  indeed,  he  took  it  then  only 
six  days  late.  It  chanced  that  the  king's  representative 
in  Scotland  at  that  time  was  a  bitter  enemy  to  the 
Macdonalds.  He  contrived  to  suppress  the  fact  that 
Maclan  had  offered  to  take  the  oath  at  a  proper  time, 
and  obtained  from  William  an  order  to  "extirpate  the 
Macdonalds  of  Glencoe."  This  sentence  was  in  the 
middle  of  a  long  document,  and  it  is  probable  that 
William  never  saw  it.  At  all  events,  one  morning 
in  February,  1692,  a  company  of  Scottish  soldiers,  led 
by  Campbell  of  Glenlyon,  after  enjoying  the  hospitali- 
ties of  the  Macdonalds  for  two  weeks,  suddenly  fell  on 
them  and  killed  thirty-eight  on  the  spot.  The  remain- 
der fled  to  the  mountains.  How  many  died  from  cold 
and  hunger  will  never  be  known.  The  act  was  one  of 
private  revenge  on  the  part  of  the  Campbells.  But  it 
was  done  under  orders,,  and  William  felt  obliged  to 
shelter  the  authors,  and  no  one  was  ever  punished. 

Queen  Mary  died  in  1694.  This  was  a  great  loss 
to  William,  for  she  was  very  popular  with  the  people, 
while  he  was  very  unpopular.  Indeed,  it  might  have 
gone  hard  with  him,  had  not  Louis  of  France,  in 
defiance  of  treaties  and  promises,  put  his  grandson 
on  the  throne  of  Spain.  This  aroused  the  jealousy 
of  the   English  people,  and  William   found  himself  at 


244        THE   FIRST   CONSTITUTIONAL   MONARCHS.       [1704 

the  head  of  another  Grand  Alliance  of  Europe  against 
the  Bourbons.  Just  at  this  moment  the  exiled  James  II. 
died  in  his  borrowed  palace  of  St.  Germain's.  In  direct 
opposition  to  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  Louis  acknowl- 
edged James's  son  James  (the  "Old  Pretender")  as 
king  of  England.  All  England  was  now  anxious  foi 
war.  But  William  was  not  again  to  lead  the  armies  of 
Europe.  In  the  winter  of  1702  he  was  thrown  from 
his  horse,  and  a  few  weeks  later  he  died.  Suspended 
about  his  neck,  where  no  one  could  see  it,  was  a  locket 
containing  a  gold  ring  and  a  lock  of  Mary's  hair. 

As  William  and  Mary  had  no  children,  Mary's 
younger  sister,  the  Princess  Anne,  became  queen. 
Queen  She  was  morc  of  a  Stuart  than  Mary,  and  al- 
fi702-  lowed  herself  to  be  ruled  by  favorites,  as  her 
'714)-  ancestors  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  ruled. 
During  the  first  part  of  her  reign  her  favorite  was 
the  wife  of  the  liarl,  afterwards  the  Duke,  of  Marl- 
borough. This  Marlborough  was  a  selfish  man.  But 
he  saw  that  by  carrying  out  the  plans  of  W^illiam  he 
might  make  a  great  name  for  himself.  And,  indeed, 
for  the  next  few  years  he  was  the  real  ruler  of  Eng- 
land, and  even  took  William's  place  at  the  head  of  the 
Alliance  against  Louis. 

The  first  year  he  accomplished  little.  But  in  1704 
he  broke  away  from  the  Dutch  allies,  who  always  pre- 
vented  his    doino:   anvthinGf   at    all    hazardous. 

Battle  of  .  &  ^  & 

Blenheim  Marching  up  the  Rhine  and  the  Neckar,  he 
^''°'^  ■  crossed  over  the  mountains  to  Donauworth,  on 
the  Danube.  There  he  was  joined  by  an  Austrian  army 
under  Prince  Eugene.  They  encountered  the  French 
and  their  allies,  the  Bavarians,  at  the  little  town  of 
Hochstadt.      The  two  opposing  forces  had  no  sooner 


1704.1 


BATTLE  OF  BLENHEIM. 


245 


come  into  contact  than  Marlborough  saw  that  the 
enemy  had  stationed  a  large  part  of  his  army  in  the 
villai^e  of  Blenheim,  at  the  end  of  the  line.     He  there- 


QUEEN   ANNE  :     FROM   A   PORTRAIT   BY   SIR   GODFREY   KNELLER. 


fore  made  the  middle  of  his  own  line  as  strong  as 
possible.  Then,  while  a  false  attack  was  made  on 
Blenheim  on  the  one  flank,  and  while  Prince  Eugene 


246        THE   FIRST   CONSTITUTIONAL   MONARCHS.      [1704 

kept  the  Bavarians  engaged  on  the  other  flank,  Marl- 
borough threw  his  whole  weight  on  the  centre.  He 
broke  through,  and  turning  half  round,  wrapped  his 
army  around  the  village  of  Blenheim.  Not  a  French- 
man in  the  village  escaped;  they  were  all  killed  or 
captured.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  the  French 
and  Bavarian  generals  had  commanded  an  army  of 
some  sixty  thousand  men.  At  night  but  twenty  thou- 
sand remained.  The  road  from  Ulm  to  Ratisbon  runs 
through  a  part  of  this  battlefield,  and  the  pathway  is 
said  to  be  founded  on  the  bones  of  men  and  horses  who 
perished  there.  In  fact,  to  this  very  day  the  skulls  of 
men  are  sometimes  turned  up  by  the  plough. 

"  '  'T  is  some  poor  fellow's  skull,'  quoth  he, 
'  Who  fell  in  the  great  victory.'  " 

The  victory  of  Blenheim  placed  England  at  the  head 
of  Teutonic  Europe.  To  Marlborough  it  brought  the 
thanks  of  Parliament  and  a  magnificent  estate. 

Marlborough  gained  many  other  victories,  but  none 

so  important  as  this.      Nor  was  he  the  only  English 

commander  to  gain  victories,  for  Admiral  Rooke, 

Seizure  .  .  ' 

of  having  with  him  a  small  land  force  under  the 

'command  of  a  German  prince,  captured  Gibral- 
tar, the  key  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  English 
held  it  through  the  war,  retained  it  at  the  peace,  and 
it  is  still  in  English  hands,  and  is  claimed  to  be  the 
strongest  fortress  in  the  world.  The  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
ended  this  long  war.  The  French  prince  kept  his 
Spanish  throne,  but  France  had  been  greatly  weakened 
by  the  struggle.  The  twenty-five  years  of  peace  which 
followed  brought  her  little  strength,  though  giving 
England   time  to   grow,   and   to  become   the   leading 


1707] 


UNION  WITH   SCOTLAND. 


247 


power  in  Europe.  In  America  this  war  was  usually 
called  Queen  Anne's  War,  and  during  its  continuance 
Acadia  was  taken  from  the  French.  At  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht  it  was  retained  by  England,  and  this  was  the 
first  step  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  French  empire  in 
America. 


YEOMEN  OF  THE  GUAFiD :   FROM  sandford's  CoronalioH  Process'ioH 
of  James  II. 


One   of   the   principal   reasons  for  the  prominence 
which  England  now  gained  was  the  union  with  Scot- 
land.    Ever  since  James  VI.    of   Scotland  be- 
came  James  I.   of  England,  the  two  countries  ^iX" 
had  been  ruled  by  one  sovereign.     But,  except  ?,^°o'^)"^ 
for  a  short  time  during  the  ascendency  of  the 
Puritans,  a  Scottish  Parliament,  sitting  at  Edinburgh, 


248       THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHS.       [1707. 

had  made  laws  for  Scotland ;  a  Scot  had  been  regarded 
in  England  as  a  foreigner;  and  Scottish  goods  could 
be  brought  into  England  only  on  terms  which  made 
their  profitable  sale  impossible.  Of  course  the  evils 
of  such  a  state  of  things  were  apparent  to  every  one. 
But  so  jealous  were  all  parties  of  their  rights  that  it 
was  not  until  1707  that  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms 
was  brought  about.  After  that  date,  laws  for  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  were  made  by  a  Par- 
liament sitting  at  Westminster.     The  Scots  sent  one- 


ROYAL  ARMS   BORNE   BY  JAMES   I.    AND   SUCCEEDING   STUART 
SOVEREIGNS. 

twelfth  of  the  new  House  of  Commons,  and  in  the 
House  of  Lords  there  were  sixteen  Scottish  peers, 
chosen  by  all  the  Scottish  peers.  Besides  these,  how- 
ever,  many  Scots  sat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  because 
they  possessed  English  titles  of  nobility,  so  that  the  dis- 
proportion was  not  so  great  as  it  at  first  sight  appears. 
For  purposes  of  trade  and  taxation  the  two  kingdoms 
were  placed   on  an    equality.      Many  people   thought 


1707.]  UNION   WITH   SCOTLAND.  249 

that  the  less  numerous  Scots  would  be  lost  to  sight 
among  their  more  numerous  neighbors.  Such  has  not 
been  the  case.  By  patience  and  energy  the  Scots  have 
made  Glasgow  on  the  Clyde  the  rival  of  Liverpool  on 
the  Mersey.  In  colonial  enterprises  the  two  races  have 
stood  side  by  side,  while  in  the  government  service, 
in  the  army,  the  navy,  and  even  in  the  Church,  the 
Scots  have  taken  a  leading  part.  And  this,  though  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  recognized  as  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland.  The  old  English  flag  had  been 
the  red  cross  of  St.  George  on  a  white  ground.  The 
white  "  saltire  "  of  St.  Andrew,  or  cross,  in  the  shape 
of  an  X,  on  a  blue  ground,  was  now  combined  with  this, 
and  the  "  union  "  flag  became  the  symbol  of  the  union 
between  the  two  countries. 

OUTLINE. 

The  House  of  Commons  retains  control  of  the  government; 
"responsible  government."  James  and  the  French  and  Irish 
attack  England.  Siege  of  Londonderry.  Battle  of  the  Boyne. 
Naval  battles  of  Beachy  Head  and  La  Hogue.  Financial  meas- 
ures :  the  Bank  of  England,  recoinage  of  the  currency.  The 
Massacre  of  Glencoe.  Accession  of  Queen  Anne.  Causes  of  the 
new  war  with  France  and  Spain.  Rise  of  Marlborough  ;  battle  of 
Blenheim.     Seizure  of  Gibraltar.     The  Union  with  Scotland. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  How  did  the  House  of  Commons  control  the  government? 

2.  Who  were  the  Non-jurors  ?  What  was  the  difference  be- 
tween a  Non-juror  and  a  Jacol)ite? 

3.  Why  was  the  Bank  of  England  founded  ?  What  is  a  "  milled  " 
coin  ? 

4.  How  did  the  Massacre  of  Glencoe  come  about? 

5.  Who  was  the  "  Old  Pretender  "  ? 

6.  Describe  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Union  with  Scotland. 


250       THE  FIRST  CONSTITUTIONAL  MONARCHS.       [1714. 


TOPICS. 

1.  Siege  of  Londonderry.      Macaulay's   History   of  England^ 
Ch.  XIL 

2.  Battle  of  the  Boyne.     Macaulay's  England^  Ch.  XVL 

3.  The  Battle  of  Blenheim.     Southey's  Blenheun. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   HANOVER. 
fames  /.,  Kinsr  of  Enirland. 

Elizabeth  ///.  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine. 
I 
Sophia  m.  Elector  of  Hanover. 

George  /..  King  of  England. 

I 
George  II. 

I 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales.  Duke  of  Cumberland. 

George  III. 
I 


I 1 1 

George  IV.  William  IV.  Duke  of  Kent. 

Victoria. 
1 

I  I 

Edward  VII.  Duke  of  Edinburgh. 

I 


I 

Albert  Victor  Edward.  George  Frederick, 

f  1892.  Prince  of  Wales. 

Edward  Albert  Christian. 
(For  other  descendants  of  James  I.,  see  p.  170.) 


I70I.]         ACT   OF   SUCCESSION,   OR   SETTLEMENT.  2$  I 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

GEORGE    I. 

1714-1727. 

OUEEN  ANNE  was  the  last  of  the  Stuart  mon- 
archs.  She  died  in  17 14,  leaving  no  children. 
As  long  ago  as  1701  an  Act  had  been  passed  regu- 
lating the  succession  to  the  crown  in  such  a  way 
that  none  but  a  Protestant  sho'jld  ever  become  Succes- 
king  or  queen  of  England.  The  Protestant  hav-  settie^-"^ 
ing  the  best  right  to  the  crown  after  Anne  was  J"^!,"^ 
the  Electress  Sophia  of  Hanover,  that  small 
country  being  governed  by  an  elector;  and  on  her  and 
her  descendants,  provided  they  were  Protestants,  the 
crown  was  settled.  A  few  things  which  had  been 
omitted  from  the  Bill  of  Rights  were  inserted  in  this 
new  agreement  between  Parliament  and  the  future 
kings  and  queens  of  England,  especially  one  clause 
requiring  the  judges  to  be  appointed  to  hold  office 
during  good  behavior,  and  not  merely  during  the  king's 
pleasure.  Electress  Sophia  died  a  few  weeks  before 
Queen  Anne.  So  upon  the  latter' s  death,  Sophia's 
son.  Elector  George  of  Hanover,  became  King  George 
the  First  of   England.^ 

There  were  many  persons  in  England,  and  even  in 
the  government  itself,  who  would  have  preferred  a 
Stuart  king.      But  just  before  Queen   Anne's  death, 

*  For  genealogy,  see  p  250. 


252  GEORGE  I.  ti7lS- 

some    noblemen    favorable    to    the    Hanoverian    cause, 

suspecting     the     ministers     of     conspiring     with     the 

Stuarts,    seized    the    government.       That    their 

Jacobite 

plot        suspicions   were    correct    is    shown    by   the    fact 
that  Lord  Bolingbroke,  who  had  been  the  lead- 
ing minister,  soon  after  ran  away  to  France,  and  openly 
joined   the   Pretender,   James    Stuart.     Then    the   elec- 
tions to  the  new  Parliament  were  scenes  of  such 

Riot 

Act  great  disorder  that  the  Riot  Act  had  to  be  passed. 
^  "  When,  a  year  later,  it  came  to  be  time  to  elect 
a  new  Parliament,  there  was  still  so  much  opposi- 
tion to  the  Hanoverian  Succession  that  an  Act  was 
passed  extending  the  duration  of  Parliament  to  seven 
years,  unless  sooner  dissolved  by  the  king.  This  was 
called  the  Septennial  Act,  and  is  still  in  force. 

Septen-  .  ^ 

iiiai  Act  No  Parliament  can  sit  for  more  than  seven  years, 
(1716).     .  .  -  1-1 

m  any  case,  without  a  new  eiection;  and  new 

elections  may  be  held  much  oftener  than  this,  as,  foi 
instance,  when  the  ministry  is  defeated  in  any  impor- 
tant vote,  or  when  a  Prime  Minister  thinks  it  a  favor- 
able time  for  his  party.  When  a  ministry  is  finally, 
defeated,  the  sovereign  sends  for  some  leading  mem- 
be»-  or  members  of  the  successful  party,  and  they  agree 
upon  a  new  list  of  ministers. 

The  next  few  years  were  marked  by  a  desire  among 
the  people  to  grow  rapidly  rich.  A  great  scheme  for 
trade  to  South  America  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific 
South  was  set  on  foot.  The  company  which  under- 
Bubbie  ^'^^^  ^^  carry  on  this  trade  was  called  the  South 
(1720).  ggg^  Company,  from  the  old  name  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  It  soon  made  some  very  corrupt  bargains  with 
the  English  Government,  and  thus  attracted  much  atten- 
tion.     Its  shares  rose  from  one  hundred  pounds  apiece 


1720.] 


SOUTH   SEA   BUBBLE. 


253 


GEORGE   I.!      FROM    AN    ENGRAVING   BY    VERTUE. 


to  one  thousand  pounds  apiece ;  and  there  were  not  so 
many  shares  as  people  wished  to  buy  at  any  price. 
New  companies  were  quickly  started:  one  to  "trade 


254  GEORGE  I.  [1721. 

in  human  hair,"  for  instance,  another  "to  insure  against 
losses  from  dishonest  servants,"  and  still  another  lor 
the  "making  of  iron  with  pit  coal."  Pit  coal,  or  coal 
as  we  call  it,  was  then  regarded  as  unfit  for  smelting 
iron,  which  was  done  with  charcoal.  A  few  years 
later  a  method  of  smelting  iron  with  coal  was  intro- 
duced, and  this  industry  is  to-day  the  basis  of  Eng- 
land's prosperity.  Alarmed  at  the  sudden  rise  of 
these  companies,  the  South  Sea  Company  procured 
their  downfall.  When  the  distrust  of  the  people  had 
been  aroused  in  this  way  it  was  directed  against  the 
South  Sea  Company  as  well  as  against  its  rivals.  The 
Governi-oent  interfered,  and  the  South  Sea  Company 
was  saved.  During  this  fit  of  speculation  thousands 
had  lost  all  their  property,  and  there  was  much 
discontent  and  misery  throughout  England.  The 
Jacobites  thought  the  time  had  come  to  overthrow  the 
Hanoverian  monarchy.  But  again  their  scheme  fell 
through. 

The  bursting  of  the  South  Sea  Bubble  brought  Sir 
Robert  Walpole,  a  skilful  financier,  to  the  head  of 
gjj.  affairs.  He  became  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
Robert    ^ud  from  that  day  to  this  it  has  been  usual  for 

\V  alpole 

Prime     that    official   to   be   prime   minister,   or   premier. 

Minister    ^.      -r^     ,  mtii  1  1  t-i 

(1721-  Sir  Robert  vV  alpole  saw  that  what  England  now 
^^  needed  was  a  period  of  repose,  during  which  the 

Hanoverian  kings  might  become  firmly  seated  on  the 
throne,  and  be  associated  in  people's  minds  with  pros- 
perity  and  quiet.     He  resolved  to  let  well  enough 
pole's      alone,   and   never  to   do   anything-  which    mis^ht 

policy.  y  o  o 

arouse  opposition.  In  this  he  was  successful. 
He  also  bought,  by  gifts  of  money  or  easy  places  under 
the  Government,  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  members 


72?.] 


WALPOLES   POLICY. 


255 


of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  in  this  way  secured  his 
own   power,  and   kept   the  two    Houses   of   Parhament 


GROUP   SHOWING  COSTUMES   AND   SEDAN    riTAIR,  ABOUT  I72O  : 
FROM   AN    ENGRAVINC.    i;V    Kll'. 

from  quarrelHng.  In  1727  George  I.  died,  and  his  son, 
George  II.,  succeeded  to  the  throne  as  quietly  as  any 
son  ever  succeeded  his  father. 


OUTLINE. 

The  Act  of  Settlement  or  Succession  Act.  Accession  of 
George  I.  ;  plots  and  riots.  Speculation  ending  in  the  South 
Sea  Bubble.  Sir  Robert  Walpole  rules  Great  Britain  for  twenty- 
one  years. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  was  George  I.  ?  Describe  his  title  to  the  crown. 
(Genealogy,  p.  250.) 

2.  What  is  the  Septennial  Act  ?  Compare  it  with  the  provision? 
of  the  Constitution  as  to  Congress.  What  is  the  case  as  to  the 
legislature  of  your  State? 

3.  Why  was  Sir  Robert  Walpole  successful  ? 


256  GEORGE  II.      ^  [1737. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

GEORGE    II. 
1 727-1 760. 

IT  seemed  at  first  as  if  Walpole  would  be  turned  out 
of  office ;  but  he  soon  discovered  that  the  new 
king  was  governed  by  his  wife,  Queen  Caroline.  So 
he  promised  her  that  if  he  should  remain  Prime  Min- 
ister, she  should  have  a  larger  allowance  than 
CaroHne.  ^^y  quccu  had  bcforc  received.  This  pleased 
Queen  Caroline,  who  also  saw  that  Walpole  was 
the  ablest  and  safest  man  then  in  public  life.  She 
threw  her  influence  on  his  side,  and  while  she  lived  he 
was  secure  in  his  place. 

It  was  during  this  reign  that  the  brothers  Wesley 
began  a  great  revival  in  the  English  Church.  As  they 
laid  much  stress  on  their  peculiar  methods,  they 
Metho-  were  in  derision  called  Methodists.  But  the 
Methodists  grew  and  prospered,  and  now  are  a 
strong  and  influential  body,  not  merely  in  England, 
but  in  our  own  country  as  well. 

In   1737  Queen  Caroline  died,  and  the  mainstay  of 

Walpole's  power  was  removed.     His  peace  policy,  too, 

.,  was  becoming:  distasteful  to   En2:lishmen,   who 

War  with  ^  ^  ' 

Spain      thought  he  yielded  too  much  to  foreigners.     At 
last    an    English    seaman    named    Jenkins    ap- 
peared in  London  with  one  of  his  ears  carefully  pre- 
served in  a  box.     This,  he  declared,  had  been  cut  off 


1739-1 


WAR   WITH   SPAIN. 


257 


SIR   ROBERT   WALPOLE       FROM   THE   PICTURE   BY   VAN    LOO 
IN  THE   NATIONAL    PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 

by  a  brutal  Spanish  sailor.  When  asked  what  his  feel- 
ings were  at  the  time  of  the  ear-cutting,  he  replied: 
"  I  commended  my  soul  to  God,  my  cause  to  my  coun- 
try." This  story  aroused  great  ill-will  among  the 
#*7 


258  GEORGE  11.  [1745 

people,  and  the  king,  too,  was  eager  for  war.  He  was 
still  Elector  of  Hanover,  and,  being  a  German  by  birth 
and  breeding,  he  cared  much  more  for  the  interests  of 
Hanover  than  for  those  of  England.  So  in  1739  Wal- 
pole  was  compelled,  quite  contrary  to  his  own  judg- 
ment, to  declare  war  against  Spain.  In  the  next 
with  year  King  Frederick  H.  —  called  Frederick  the 
and  Great  —  of  Prussia  seized  some  valuable  terri- 
tory belonging  to  Austria,  and  the  war  became 
general,  England  and  Austria  fighting  on  one  side, 
against  Spain,    France,   and  Prussia  on  the  other. 

In  1742  Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  forced  from  office, 

and  before  long  Henry  Pelham  became  prime  minister, 

with  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  as  his 

Pelham         .    ^       , 

Ministry  right-hand  man.      The  war  was  now  carried  on 
i754)~     wi^h  more  vigor.      The  English  took  part  in  two 

noted  battles,  Dettingen  and  Fontenoy.  The 
former  is  especially  memorable  as  the  last  battle  in 
which  an  English  king  took  a  personal  share,  and  the 
latter  as  one  in  which  Irish  troops  fought  against 
England. 

The  war  is  important  in  English  history,  however, 
as  giving  occasion  for  the  last  attempt  of  the  Stuarts 

to  regain  their  lost  throne  by  force.  The 
rising       French  Government  gave  all   the  assistance  it 

could,  and  many  Scots  rallied  around  Prince 
Charles  Edward,  the  son  of  the  Old  Pretender,  or 
James  III.,  as  the  Jacobites  called  him.  "  Prince  Char- 
lie "  beat  the  English  at  Preston  Pans,  near  Edinburgh, 
and  then,  advancing  south,  marched  almost  unopposed 
to  Derby,  in  the  heart  of  England.  In  London  all  was 
confusion.  The  king  made  preparations  to  escape  by 
sea,  and  Newcastle  even  thought  of  going  over  to  the 


I745-] 


GEORGE  II. 


259 


GEORGE   II.  :     FROM   THE    PORTRAIT   BY  THOMAS   HUDSOlf 
IN  THE  NATIONAL  PORTRAIT  GALLERY. 


26o  GEORGE  II.  [1746. 

side  of  the  prince.  But  almost  no  one  in  England 
actually  joined  the  prince,  and  without  a  fight  he 
turned  back,  and  retreated  to  Scotland.  The  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  brother  to  the  king,  now  took  command 
of  the  English  forces,  and  pursuing  the  Scots  to  the 

northern    end    of    Scotland,    defeated    them    in 
imef''  ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^  CuUoden.      The  slaughter  did  not 

cease  with  the  battle,  and  earned  for  Cumber- 
land the  nickname  01  the  "  Butcher. "  After  many 
romantic  adventures.  Prince  Charles  escaped.  This 
was  largely  due  to  the  bravery  of  Flora  Macdonald, 
who  later  emigrated  to  the  Carolinas.  The  Highland 
clan  system  was  now  broken  up,  and  the  warlike  power 
of  the  chiefs  destroyed.  The  war  also  led  to  a  lasting 
change  in  the  social  condition  of  Scotland.  Before 
this,  the  humblest  Highland  clansman  had  claimed 
a  right  in  the  soil;  but  he  was  now  treated,  under 
the  English  laws,  as  a  mere  tenant-at-will,  and  the 
Dukes  of  Athol,  Sutherland,  and  Argyle  entered,  one 
after  another,  upon  a  series  of  "clearances,"  as  they 
were  called,  expelling  thousands  of  families  to  make 
room  for  grouse,  sheep,  and  deer.  The  Scots  never 
rebelled  again,  and  in  the  next  war  they  were  found 
serving  in  the  English  army  against  the  French. 
Before  dismissing  the  Stuarts  from  our  minds,  let  us 
recall  for  a  moment  how  much  they  suffered  and  lost, 
mainly  because  of  their  religion.  If  we  cannot  sym- 
pathize with  their  despotic  theories  of  government,  we 
may  perhaps  honor  them  for  their  fidelity  to  their 
religious  convictions. 

This  insurrection,  "the  Forty-five,"  as  it  was  after- 
wards called,  is  vividly  described  in  Scott's  novel  of 
"Waverley."    During  this  war,  the  militia  of  Massa- 


1748]  PITT  AND   FOX.  26 1 

chusetts  and  some  of  the  other  English  North  Ameri- 
can colonies,  with  the  assistance  of  an  English  fleet, 
had  surprised  and  captured  the  French  stronghold  of 
Louisburg,  on  Cape  Breton  Island.  This,  with  all 
other  conquests,  was  given  back  by  England  at  the 
Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in   1748. 

The  year  1752  is  memorable  as  being  the  first  year 
in  which  English  folk  used  the  modern  mode  of  reckon- 
ing time.  The  old  calendar  had  been  adopted  in  the 
days  of  JuHus  Caesar,  when  people  were  not  sure  how 
long  a  year  really  was.  In  1582  Pope  Gregory  ^^^ 
had  instituted  a  new  calendar;  but  the  EngHsh  ^^^^^• 
at  that  time  hated  the  Pope  so  thoroughly  tliat  they 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  was  adopted, 
however,  by  the  Catholic  countries  of  western  Europe. 
In  1 75 1  the  difference  in  time  between  England  and 
her  neighbors  was  eleven  days.  The  English  year, 
too,  began  on  the  25th  of  March,  instead  of  on  the  ist 
of  January,  and  altogether  it  was  very  inconvenient. 
So  in  1 75 1  Parliament  passed  an  Act  providing  that 
the  year  1752  should  begin  on  January  ist,  and  the  day 
after  September  2d  should  be  called,  not  September  3d, 
but  September  14th.  In  this  way  England  caught  up 
with  her  neighbors.  But  many  people  thought  the 
Government  had  stolen  the  eleven  days,  and  cried  in 
public  places,  "Give  us  back  our  eleven  days!" 

During  these  years  two  young  men  —  William  Pitt 
and  Henry  Fox  —  pushed  themselves  to  the  front, 
and  were  taken  into  the  Government,  Fox  as  put  and 
Secretary  of  War,  and  Pitt  as  Paymaster  of  ^o'^- 
the  Forces.  Former  paymasters  had  used  the  money 
in  their  hands  as  their  own,  till  it  was  actually 
needed.     Pitt  now  refused  to  do  this.     He  turned  into 


262  GEORGE   II.  {iJS^ 

the  treasury  the  interest  earned  by  the  money,  and 
thus  won  the  confidence  of  the  people.  In  1754  Pel- 
ham  died,  and  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
became  prime  minister. 

The  Treaty  of  1748  had  really  settled  nothing.  In 
America  especially,  the  boundaries  between  English 
and  French  soil  were  vague  and  uncertain.  France 
conceived  the  project  of  connecting  her  possessions 
in  Canada  and  Louisiana  by  a  line  of  posts  extending 
down  the  Ohio  River.  If  this  were  successfully  done, 
Causes  ^^*^  English  colonies  would  be  confined  to  the 
^fthe      narrow  strip  of   land  between  the  Alles^hanies 

French  ^  ^ 

and         and   the  Atlantic  Ocean.     Governor  Dinwiddle 

Indian  _..  ttti-  -i 

Warm  01  Virginia  sent  George  Washington  with  a 
mv,nca.  YqUqj  to  the  Commander  of  one  of  the  French 
posts,  protesting  against  the  whole  scheme.  No  at- 
tention being  paid  to  this,  Washington  led  an  expe- 
dition to  seize  Fort  Du  Quesne,  which  wa.'  erected 
at  the  junction  of  the  two  principal  branches  of  the 
Ohio,  near  where  Pittsburgh  now  stands.  This  ex- 
pedition ended  in  disaster.  The  English  Govern- 
ment then  sent  over  regular  troops  under  General 
Braddock  to  seize  the  place.  But  Braddock  was  killed 
before  he  came  within  sight  of  the  fort,  and  his  expedi- 
tion, too,  was  totally  wrecked. 

By  this  time  (1756)  war  had  broken  out  all  over 
western  Europe.  France  took  the  part  of  Austria, 
^,  and  thus  Ens:land  was  forced  into  an  alliance 

Seven  with  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia.  The 
War  in  War  soou  Spread  over  the  Christian  world, 
»rope-  ^^^  ^^  |^j.g^  everything  went  against  England. 
Newcastle  tried  to  govern  without  Pitt,  and  failed, 
fhen  Pitt  tried  to  carry  on  the  gove^nnient  without 


1756.] 


WILLIAM   PITT. 


26z 


THE    RT.  HON.  WIU  I  AM    rilT.    PAYMASTER    OF   TTTF.    lORCKS,    AFTER- 
WARDS   EARL   OF   CHATHAM  t     FROM    A    PAINTING    BY   HOARE. 


Newcastle,  and  he  in  turn  failed.  The  two  then  agreed 
to  share  the  government  between  them,  Newcastle  to 
manage  home  affairs,  and  to  secure  by  bribery,  in  which 
he  was  expert,  a  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
while  Pitt  should  manage  the  war,  and  gain  as  many 
victories  as  he  could. 


264  GEORGE  II.  [1756. 

William  Pitt  was  probably  the  ablest  war  minister 
England  ever  had.  He  took  the,  whole  control  of  the 
army  and  navy  into  his  own  hands.  For  instance, 
the  orders  for  the  sailing  of  fleets  were  sent  by  Pitt 
William  to  the  Admiralty  (or  navy  department),  and  the 
^'""  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  were  compelled  to  sign 
them,  without  even  knowing  what  they  were.  Once, 
it  is  said,  Pitt  told  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  to 
have  a  fleet  ready  to  set  sail  the  following  Friday. 
The  Lords  said  it  was  impossible.  Pitt  declared  that 
if  the  fleet  did  not  sail  at  the  designated  time,  there 
would  be  a  new  set  of  Lords  of  the  Admiralty.  The 
fleet  sailed  at  the  appointed  time,  and  a  few  days  later 
won  a  glorious  victory.  Pitt  especially  sought  for 
active,  skilful  young  men,  and  promoted  them  over 
the  heads  of  old  and  less  efficient  men,  whose  only 
recommendation  was  the  influence  their  families  pos- 
sessed in  Parliament.  The  result  of  this  energetic 
administration  was  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from 
the  valleys  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ohio  rivers  in 
America,  and  from  one  of  the  finest  portions  of  India, 
Quebec  and  Plassey,  associated  with  the  names  of 
Wolfe  and  Clive,  were  the  two  great  victories  won  by 
the  English  in  this  war.  They  are  still  reckoned 
among  the  decisive  conflicts  in  the  world's  history. 

On  the  Continent,  too,  Frederick  the  Great,  with 
the  aid  of  English  money,  won  campaign  after  cam- 
paign, and,  though  often  sorely  pressed,  kept  the 
French  busy  at  home.  Hence  it  is  often  said :  '*  Eng- 
land conquered  America  in  Germany."  But  before 
peace  was  made,  George  H.  was  dead,  and  Pitt  and 
Newcastle  were  no  longer  in  the  Government. 


OUTLINE  AND  QUESTIONS. 


265 


OUTLINE. 

Walpole  forced  into  war  with  Spain  and  driven  from  office. 
Stuart  rising,  "  the  Forty  five  ;  "  Preston  Pans,  Derby,  and  Cullo- 
den;  results  of  this  rising.  The  New  style.  Pitt,  Fox,  and  New- 
castle. War  renewed  with  France.  The  war  in  America,  in 
Europe,  in  India. 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  were  the  founders  of  Methodism  ? 

2.  Describe  the  "Affair  of  Jenkins's  ears." 
reason  for  declaring  war.-* 

3.  Tell  all  you  know  about  Prince  Charlie. 


Was  it  a  good 


4.    Describe  William  Pitt's  administration  of  the  war  office. 


COACH    IN    USE    ABOUT    I7OO. 


266  GEORGE   III.  [1760. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

GEORGE    III. 

1 760-1820. 

Part  I.     1 760-1783. 

THE  new  king  was  quite  unlike  his  Hanoverian 
predecessors.  They  were  Germans,  while  he 
was  born  an  Englishman.  They  were  content  to  have 
England  governed  by  constitutional  ministers,  as  long 

as  everything  went  well,  and  their  pleasures 
teroTthewere  not  restricted.  But  George  the  Third  had 
"J'J^       been  brought  up  by  his  mother  with  very  high 

notions  of  the  rights  of  an  English  king.  She 
was  always  saying  to  him,  "George,  be  king!  "  and  he 
set  to  work  to  "be  king"  in  earnest.  This  was  now 
easier  than  it  would  have  been  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  century,  for  long  years  of  power  had  split  the 
Whig  party  into  cliques,  and  it  was  no  longer  able  to 
resist  royal  encroachment.  In  1761  Pitt  wished  to 
declare  war  against  Spain,  which  was  plainly  preparing 
to  attack  England.  He  was  overruled  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  king,  and  resigned.  Soon  after  other 
changes  were  made,  and  Newcastle,  in  disgust,  retired. 
These  things  were  done  by  the  advice  of  Lord  Bute, 
the  Scottish  favorite  of  the  king,  who  became  Prime 
Minister. 

The  war  with  Spain  followed,  as  Pitt  had  foretold. 
But  the  enthusiasm  he  had  aroused  remained,  and 
Havana  was   captured  from  the    Spaniards.     In  1763 


1763-1 


PEACE   OF   PARIS. 


207 


GEORGE   III.  IN    1767  :     FROM    A    PAINTING   BY   ALLAN    RAMSAY 
IN    THE    NATIONAL    PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 


peace  was  made,  England  retaining  nearly  all  her  con- 
quests, and  exchanging  Havana  for  the  Floridas. 
In  this  way  all  of  North  America  east  of  the   Paris 
Mississippi  River,  with  the  exception  of  New   ^^^^^r 


268  GEORGE  III.  [1763. 

Orleans,  came  into  England's  hands.  In  India  was 
laid  the  foundation  of  her  present  splendid  empire. 

Nevertheless,  many  Englishmen  thought  Lord  Bute 
had  obtained  less  than  England's  due  at  the  end  of  a 
long  and  successful  war.  The  treaty  was  fiercely  at- 
tacked in  the  House  of  Commons,  Bute  employed 
Henry  Fox  to  buy  enough  votes  to  carry  the  treaty 
through.  For  his  success  in  this  dishonorable  effort, 
he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord  Holland,  but  he 
never  recovered  the  esteem  of  men.  Lord  Bute  now 
suddenly  resigned,  and  Pitt's  brother-in-law,  George 
Grenville,  became  the  real  head  of  the  Government. 
Bute's  turning  Pitt  out  of  office,  and  then  bringing  the 
war  to  such  a  tame  conclusion,  made  him  very  unpop- 
ular. He  was  attacked  from  all  sides,  and  pamphlet 
after  pamphlet  was  written  against  him. 

Perhaps  the  boldest  attack  was  made  by  John  Wilkes, 
in  a  paper  called,  in  direct  allusion  to  Bute's  Scottish 
j^^^  birth,  "The  North  Briton."  This  John  Wilkes 
Wilkes,  ^g^g  ^  most  extraordinary  man.  His  character 
was  as  bad  as  it  could  be,  and  his  personal  appearance 
was  so  singular  that  one  would  have  supposed  he  would 
have  had  no  influence  at  all.  But  his  conversation 
was  so  brilliant  that  in  five  minutes  one  forgot  his  evil 
looks,  and  his  talents  were  so  great  that  Benjamin 
Franklin  once  said:  "Had  Wilkes  had  a  good  charac- 
ter, and  George  the  Third  a  bad  one,  the  former  would 
have  turned  the  latter  out  of  his  kingdom."  As  it 
was,  Wilkes  gave  the  king  and  his  ministers  a  good 
deal  of  trouble.  The  Government  decided  to  punish 
him  for  writing  the  articles  in  "The  North  Briton." 
To  make  an  arrest  sure,  a  general  warrant  was  issued 
to  arrest  the  authors  of  the  paper,  not  specifying  any 


763-1 


JOHN  WILKES. 


269 


one  of  the  authors  by  name.     Wilkes  was  arrested,  but 
Charles  Pratt,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 


A   SITTING    IN   THE    HOUSE   OF   COMMONS    IN    1741-42:    FROM    AN    ENGRAVING   BY    PINE. 


Pleas,    who    later   became    Lord    Chancellor  Camden, 
'>rdered  his  release,  on  the  ground  that  as  a  member  of 


270  GEORGE  III.  [1763. 

the  House  of  Commons  he  was  free  from  arrest  ex- 
cept for  certain  things,  of  which  writing  newspaper 
attacks  was  not  one.  A  little  later,  general  warrants 
were  also  declared  to  be  illegal.  The  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  however,  was  on  the  side  of  the 
Government,  and  by  vote  expelled  Wilkes  from  his 
seat.  Soon  after  he  was  wounded  in  a  duel,  and  com- 
pelled to  flee  to  France,  and  then  was  declared  to  be 
an  outlaw.  But  "  Wilkes  and  Liberty "  became  a 
popular  cry,  and  before  long  the  Government  had  more 
trouble  with  Wilkes  himself. 

The  ministry  now  became  involved  in  another  quar- 
rel, one  result  of  which  was  the  independence  of  the 
The  United  States.  The  English  colonies  had  been 
American  planted  in  the  seventeenth  century,  either  as 
colonies,  commercial  ventures  or  as  places  of  refuge  for 
particular  religious  beliefs.  During  their  early  years 
of  weakness  and  poverty  they  had  received  little  help 
or  encouragement  from  the  mother  land.  But  as  they 
grew  in  riches,  and  their  trade  became  profitable.  Par- 
liament passed  law  after  law  to  turn  their  trade  and 
commerce  to  the  advantage  of  England.  Many  of 
these  laws  were  so  severe  they  could  not  be  enforced. 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  tax  on  sugar  and 
molasses  imported  from  the  Spanish  and  French  West 
Indies,  which  tax  was  so  high  as  to  prevent  the  profit- 
able importation  of  such  articles  from  those  islands; 
that  is,  if  the  tax  were  paid.  The  only  result  was  to 
encourage  smuggling,  which  became  a  regular  busi- 
ness in  some  colonies.  George  Grenville  was  an  able 
lawyer,  a  hard-headed,  narrow-minded  man.  To  him 
smuggling  was  smuggling,  whether  on  the  coast  of 
Old  England  or  of  New  England,      He  lowered  the 


1765.1  THE  REGENCY  QUESTION.  27 1 

duty  on  sugar,  and  then  ordered  the  English  naval 
officers  to  carry  out  the  law  to  the  letter.  This  was 
done,  but  the  harshness  of  the  naval  officers  aroused 
much  irritation. 

Grenville  also  decided  that  a  force  of  regular  Eng- 
lish troops  must  be  maintained  in  the  colonies  to  keep 
the  Indians  in  order.  He  thought  it  only  right  xhe 
the  colonists  should  pay  a  part  of  the  expense  of  ^^^^^^ 
maintaining  them.  This  he  told  the  colonial  ('"^'5)- 
agents  in  London,  and  gave  them  a  year  in  which  to 
propose  some  method  of  raising  the  required  sum.  As 
they  proposed  none,  he  carried  a  bill  through  Parlia- 
ment, laying  a  stamp  duty  on  legal  documents  and 
newspapers  in  America.  The  Act  was  most  ill-timed. 
The  colonists  refused  to  obey  it.  Newspapers  were 
printed  without  a  stamp,  and,  after  a  time,  the  courts 
went  on  without  stamped  documents,  as  if  no  law  had 
ever  been  passed. 

As  if  these  quarrels  with  Wilkes  and  the  American 
colonists  were  not  enough,  Grenville  now  quarrelled 
with  the  king.  George  the  Third's  mind  had  _ 
never  been  very  strong,  and  in  1765  he  became  Regency 
for  a  time  incapable  of  ruling.  It  seemed  ^'^^ '''"' 
necessary  to  provide  some  one  to  take  his  place  in  case 
of  future  attacks.  So  Grenville  drew  up  a  bill  to  pro- 
vide for  the  appointment  of  a  Council  of  Regency. 
The  king's  mother  was  very  unpopular,  and  it  was 
thought  best  to  omit  her  name  altogether  from  the 
list  of  persons  to  be  appointed,  for  if  it  were  put  in, 
the  Commons  would  surely  strike  it  out.  The  king 
consented  to  omit  it.  But  when  the  bill  came  to 
the  Commons  they  insisted  upon  its  insertion.  The 
king  was  furious.     He  dismissed  Grenville  on  the  first 


2^2  GEORGE  III.  [1766. 

opportunity,  and  another  Whig  faction  came  into  office 
under  the  lead  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  whose 
private  secretary  was  an  Irishman  named  Edmund 
Burke. 

The  Rockingham  ministry  was  really  disliked  by  the 
king,  and  had  but  a  narrow  majority  in  the  Commons, 
Stamp  so  it  accomplished  very  little.  The  Stamp  Act 
^pealed  ^^^  indeed  repealed,  but  the  repeal  was  accom- 
{1766).  panied  by  a  Declaratory  Act,  declaring  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  legislate  for  the  colonies  "in 
all  cases  whatsoever."  The  colonists,  however,  were 
so  overjoyed  at  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  that  they 
paid  no  attention  to  this  other  Act.  The  king  then 
turned  out  the  Whigs,  and  prevailed  on  William  Pitt, 
now  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Earl  of  Chatham,  to  be 
the  head  of  a  new  ministry.  As  he  was  getting  feeble, 
the  Duke  of  Grafton  became  nominal  Prime  Minister. 
Charles  Pratt  was  in  the  new  government  as  Lord 
Chancellor  Camden,  and  Lord  Shelburne,  a  friend  of 
the  colonists,  was  Colonial  Secretary.  Charles  Towns- 
hend  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  Lord  North 
held  a  subordinate  office.  In  fact  so  many  different  ele- 
ments were  represented  in  this  ministry  that  Edmund 
Burke  laughingly  called  it  a  "Mosaic  Ministry."  Be- 
fore the  Government  was  fairly  started.  Lord  Chatham 
became  seriously  ill,  and  retired  to  the  country.  In 
his  absence,  and  in  accordance  with  the  Declaratory 
Act,  Townshend  passed  a  bill  through  Parliament  lay- 
ing duties  on  glass,  paper,  tea,  and  painters'  colors 
imported  into  the  colonies.  Townshend  did  this 
merely  to  fulfil  an  idle  boast,  and  almost  immediately 
died.  His  place  was  taken  by  Lord  North.  Unable 
to  prevent   such  measures,    Shelburne   resigned,   and 


1768.1  WILKES  AGAIN.  273 

Chatham,  as  soon  as  he  recovered  sufficiently  to  realize 
what  was  going  on,  also  resigned.  In  1770  Camden 
and  Grafton  followed,  and  Lord  North  became  Prime 
Minister. 

The   king  had    now  accomplished   his   object.      By- 
sinecure  offices,   bribes,   and   other  corrupt  means  he 
had   gathered    about  him    a    party,   known   as  , 
"The  King's  Friends,"  devoted  to  his  inter-  King's 

FriGriQS " 

ests.  This  party  now  supported  Lord  North, 
and  from  1770  to  1782  King  George  III.  governed  very 
despotically,  as  no  king  had  governed  since  the  days 
of  James  II.,  and  as  none  has  governed  since.  Once 
in  a  while  Lord  North  objected  to  the  royal  policy, 
and  threatened  to  resign.  But  the  king  appealed  to 
his  personal  loyalty,  and  Lord  North,  to  his  discredit, 
remained  in  office.  Though  including  such  men  as 
Chatham  and  Camden  in  the  Lords,  and  Burke  and 
Charles  James  Fox  in  the  Commons,  the  Opposition 
was  able  to  accomplish  nothing  against  Lord  North 
and  the  King's  Friends.  One  man  there  was  who 
seemed  singly  a  match  forking  and  Parliament  com- 
bined,  and  this  man  was  John  Wilkes. 

In  1768  Wilkes  had  returned  from  France,  and  been 
elected  to  Parliament  as  one  of  the  members  for  the 
County  of  Middlesex.  The  House  of  Commons  ^viikes 
declared  him  incapable  of  sitting  in  that  House,  ^^ain. 
and  ordered  a  new  election.  Wilkes  was  again  re- 
turned ;  and  this  was  again  repeated  till  the  House 
ordered  the  man  having  the  next  largest  number  of 
votes  to  be  considered  the  elected  member.  Up  to 
this  time  the  debates  which  took  place  in  Parliament 
were  not  reported  and  published,  because  the  two 
Houses  would  not  permit  it.     Sometimes  the  speeches 


274  GEORGE  in.  [177a 

of  members  were  printed  as  speeches  delivered  in  "the 
Senate  of  Great  Lilliput,"  or  some  such  place,  and 
the  names  of  the  speakers  were  never  given  in  full. 
In  1770,  however,  some  of  the  debates  were  published 
without  any  such  attempt  at  concealment.  The  Com- 
mons decided  to  punish  the  printers,  and  sent  their 
officers  into  the  city  of  London  to  arrest  the  culprits. 
But  the  officers  were  themselves  arrested  and  taken 
before  the  Lord  Mayor,  Brass  Crosby  by  name,  and 
Aldermen  Wilkes  and  Oliver.  These  magistrates 
decided  that  the  officers  of  the  Commons  could  arrest 
no  one  within  the  limits  of  the  city  without  the  con- 
sent of  a  city  magistrate.  Then  the  Commons  or- 
dered Crosby  and  Oliver  to  appear  in  their  places,  for 
they  were  members  of  the  House,  and  to  justify  their 
conduct.  They  also  ordered  Wilkes  to  appear  at  the 
bar  of  the  House  and  defend  himself.  Crosby  and 
Oliver  did  as  they  were  ordered,  and  were  sent  to 
prison.  But  Wilkes  refused  to  appear  except  in  his 
place  as  member  for  Middlesex,  and  the  House  of 
Commons  was  afraid  of  another  struggle  with  him,  for 
the  London  mob  took  his  side.  It  ordered  him  to 
present  himself  on  a  certain  day,  and  then  adjourned 
over  that  day,  so  that  he  could  not  appear.  This  was 
the  end  of  the  contest,  and  ever  since,  the  debates  in 
the  Houses  of  Parliament  have  been  published.  The 
Opposition  had  sided  with  Wilkes.  As  time  went  on 
they  took  the  part  of  the  American  colonists,  and  in 
this  way  the  maintenance  of  the  king's  policy  in  Eng- 
land and  America  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  single 
question.  This,  of  course,  made  reconciliation  with 
America  even  more  difficult  than  before. 

The  Townshend  duties  gave  rise  to  so  much  irrita 


I773-]  THE   BOSTON  TEA  PARTY.  275 

tion  in  the  colonies  that  in  1770  they  were  repealed, 
with  the  exception  of  the  tax  on  tea,  which  was  re- 
tained at  the  command  of  the  king.  It  chanced  ^^^^  ^^^^ 
at  this  time  that  the  English  East  India  Com-  ^"jjjj^^g^ 
pany  was  in  great  need  of  funds.  The  Govern- 
ment loaned  it  money,  and,  in  return,  secured  a  voice 
in  its  affairs.  Still  further  to  help  it  out  of  its  difficul- 
ties, the  Government  gave  it  the  privilege  of  exporting 
tea  from  its  London  warehouses  to  the  colonies  free 
of  duty,  except  the  tax  which  was  to  be  collected  in 
America,  in  accordance  with  the  Townshend  duties. 

As  there  was  a  heavy  tax  on  all  tea  sold  in  England, 
this  arrangement  would  have  enabled  the  Company  to 
sell  it  to  the  colonists  cheaper  than  to  the  peo-   ^j^^ 
pie  of  Entrland.     In  fact,  this  was  one  reason   Boston 
why  the  Government  entered  mto  the  arrange-    Party 
ment,  as  it  was  hoped  that  the  Company  would      ^^-^ ' 
sell  its  tea  so  cheap  that  the  Americans  would  stop 
buying  smuggled  tea  from  the  Dutch  traders.      The 
colonists,  on  the  other  hand,  regarded  its  very  cheap- 
ness with  suspicion,  and  felt  that  the  Government  was 
in  effect  bribing  them  to  submit  to  taxation.     They 
everywhere  refused  to  buy  the  tea.      In  some  colonies 
the  ships   were  turned    back,    in    others   the  tea  was 
stored   in  damp  cellars,    where   it  soon   spoiled.       In 
Massachusetts,  when  Governor  Hutchinson  refused  to 
allow  the  ships  to  sail  before  their  cargoes  were  landed, 
the  people  threw  the  tea  into  the  harbor,  and  then  re- 
fused to  pay  the  Company  for  what  they  had  destroyed. 

The  English  Government  decided  to  make  an  exam- 
ple of  the  people  of  Boston  and  Massachusetts.  Laws 
were  passed  through  Parliament  closing  the  port  of 
Boston   to    commerce,  and  suspending  the  charter  of 


276  GEORGE   III.  [1775. 

the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Another  Act, 
passed  in  the  same  year,  extended  the  boundaries  of 
^j^g  the  Province  of  Quebec  to  the  Ohio  River,  and 
Boston     orranted  many  privileofes  to  the  French  Catho- 

Port  Act     ^  -^       ^  -n.  1  .  T»  /r 

and  lies  Hving  in  Canada.  By  selecting  Massachu- 
oppres-  setts  for  punishment  the  Government  no  doubt 
measures  cxpcctcd  to  Separate  her  from  the  other  colo- 
(1774)-  nies,  and  in  this  way  to  deal  with  one  colony  at 
a  time.  The  colonists,  however,  acted  in  an  entirely 
unexpected  manner,  for  they  made  the  cause  of  Massa- 
chusetts their  own.  This  view  was  entirely  just,  for  if 
Parliament  could  deal  thus  arbitrarily  with  one  colony, 
it  could  with  all.  A  Continental  Congress,  or  meeting 
of  delegates  from  all  of  the  original  English  colonies 
on  the  continent,  met  at  Philadelphia.  It  drew  up  a 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists,  and  set  on 
foot  an  association  to  prevent  the  importation  and 
consumption  of  English -goods. 

In  1774  a  general  election  was  held  in  England,  and 
the  voters  showed  their  sympathy  for  the  Government 

by  returning  a  large  majority  to  help  the  Gov- 
t^^and"  ernment  oppress  the  colonies.  In  fact,  for  the 
Concord  ^^^^  gj^^  years,   from    1774  to    1780,   there  was 

hardly  an  Opposition  in  Parliament.  During 
the  winter  of  1 774-1 775,  however,  the  colonists  were 
active  in  preparing  for  defence.  In  the  spring  of  1775 
occurred  the  skirmishes  at  Lexington  and  Concord, 
and  the  battle  at  Bunker's  Hill  (or  Breed's  Hill).  All 
resulted  practically  in  favor  of  the  colonists,  though 
they  were  obliged  to  retire  from  their  works  on  Breed's 
Hill.  Then  followed  the  siege  of  Boston  by  the  colo- 
nists, who  were  commanded  by  General  Washington. 
In  March,    1776,  the  British  were  forced  to  evacuate 


I776.J  THE   SURPRISE  AT  TRENTON.  -77 

Boston,  and  the  scene  of  warlike  operations  was  trans- 
ferred to  New  York. 

Meantime,  Ethan  Allen  and  Benedict  Arnold  and 
their  companies  seized  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point, 
with  their  storehouses  full  of  arms  and  ammunition; 
but  later  Montgomery  and  Arnold  failed  to  capture 
Quebec,  and  the  English  General  Clinton,  with  Sir 
Peter  Parker,  were  in  their  turn  frustrated  in  an  attempt 
on  Charleston,  S.  C. 

In  July,  1776,  Congress  issued  a  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  Articles  of  Confederation  be- 
tween the  colonies  were  drawn  up.  Owing  to  various 
causes,  however,  they  did  not  go  into  effect  until  five 
years  later,  in  1781.  In  July,  1776,  came  proposals 
for  reconciliation  from  the  English  Government,  but 
the  terms  offered  could  not  then  be  entertained,  and 
nothing  came  of  the  attempt.  Washington  and  Howe 
once  more  confronted  each  other,  this  time  in  New 
York;  but  the  British  were  now  much  the  stronger 
party,  and  the  Americans  were  driven  from  New  York 
city  and  White  Plains,  across  the  Hudson,  through  the 
Jerseys,  to  the  southern  side  of  the  Delaware  River. 
With  ill-timed  caution  General  Howe,  instead  of  fol- 
lowing Washington  across  the  Delaware  and  fighting 
him  wherever  found,  stopped  short  and  went  into  win- 
ter quarters,  his  line  extending  across  New  Jersey  from 
Elizabeth  to  Trenton. 

In  December,  1776,  affairs  looked  desperate  for  the 
Americans ;  but  on  Christmas  night  Washington  re- 
crossed  the  Delaware,  and  surprised  and  captured  The 
the  British  outpost  at  Trenton.  Before  long  at'^"'*" 
the  British  were  obliged  to  concentrate  within  a  Zy!,^)^" 
short  distance  of  New  York. 


278  GEORGE  III.  [1777- 

For  the  year  1777  a  most  elaborate  plan  was  drawn 
up.  The  main  army,  under  Howe,  was  to  seize  Phila- 
delphia, while  Clinton  should  protect  New  York  city 
and  capture  all  of  the  American  forts  he  could  on 
Hudson  River.  A  third  army,  under  Burgoyne,  would 
march  south  from  Canada  and  join  Clinton.  If  this 
plan  was  successfully  carried  out,  New  England  would 
be  cut  off  from  the  other  colonies,  to  be  subdued  at 
leisure.  Burgoyne' s  march  was  disastrous  to  him.  A 
detachment  under  St.  Leger  was  turned  back  by  the  gar- 
rison of  Fort  Stanwix  and  by  the  militia  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley  under  General  Herkimer.  Another  detachment 
was  defeated  by  the  New  Englanders,  led  by  Stark,  at 
Bennington,  while  Burgoyne  was  himself  sur- 
go"yne's  rouudcd  and  captured,  with  his  army,  at  Saratoga, 
surrender  -pj^g  American  commander  was  General  Horatio 
Gates;  but  to  Philip  Schuyler  and  Benedict 
Arnold  historians  give  most  credit  for  this  achieve- 
ment. Clinton,  on  his  end  of  the  line,  accomplished 
little. 

General  Howe  had  better  fortune.  Placing  his 
troops  on  transports,  he  carried  them  by  water  to  the 
head  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  approached  Philadelphia 
from  the  south.  Washington  met  him  at  Brandywine 
Creek,  and  was  compelled  to  retire.  Howe  then  oc- 
cupied Philadelphia,  and  maintained  himself  there, 
although  a  portion  of  his  army  was  surprised  by  Wash- 
ington at  Germantown.  The  Americans  then  retired 
to  Valley  Forge,  a  strong  position  on  the  Schuylkill. 
There  they  suffered  terrible  privations.  But  there  they 
were  drilled  by  Steuben  and  his  under- officers  till  in 
efficiency  the  "  continental  line  "  became  superior  to  its 
opponents. 


1778]  THE  FRENCH  ALLIANCE.  2/9 

The  principal  result,    however,  of  the  campaign  of 
1777  was  the  alliance  between  France  and  the  Ameri- 
cans.    The  present  time  seemed  to  the  French  a  good 
opportunity  to  deal  a  great  blow  at  England's 
fast-growing  colonial  empire,  and  in  this  way  to    pj'e^nch 
avenge  the  humiliations  of  the  Peace  of  176^.    ^"'^"ce 
At  first  it  seemed  so  doubtful  whether  the  colo- 
nists could  keep  up  their  resistance  that  France  was 
afraid  openly  to  take  their  side.      But  the  surprise  at 
Trenton    and  the  capture  of    Burgoyne  put    a  wholly 
new  face  on  the  war. 

The  French  alliance  caused  great  excitement  in 
England.  Chatham  proposed  to  withdraw  the  troops 
from  the  colonies,  win  back  the  affections  of  the  colo- 
nists, and  oppose  a  united  front  to  the  power  of  France. 
Chatham  was  the  only  man  who  could  have  carried  out 
this  scheme.  But  the  king  refused  to  appoint  him 
prime  minister,  though  quite  willing  to  consent  to 
his  taking  office  under  Lord  North,  which  of  course 
Chatham  could  not  do.  Lord  North,  on  his  part, 
brought  forward  a  plan  for  reconciliation,  by  which  all 
the  demands  of  the  colonists,  except  independence, 
were  to  be  granted.  But  this,  like  the  former  plans, 
came  just  too  late.  Chatham  did  not  live  to  see  the 
defeat  of  the  English  by  the  French  and  their  Ameri- 
can allies.  While  making  a  speech  to  arouse  the 
spirits  of  the  peers,  he  overtaxed  his  strength,  and  a 
few  days  later  died.  He  was  given  a  national  funeral 
and  a  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

The  principal  event   in  the  campaign  of    1778  was 
the  evacuation  of  Philadelphia  by  the  British.       ^^ 
While    marching   across    the   Jerseys    to    New   mouth 
York,  their  rear  was  attacked  by  the  Americans     ^^^ 


280  GEORGE  III.  [1779. 

at  Monmouth.  Owing,  however,  to  the  treasonable 
conduct  of  General  Charles  Lee,  the  attempt  was  a 
failure. 

In  1779  neither  side  attempted  much  in  America 
In  England,  however,  the  struggle  was  hot  and  fierce. 
General  Burgoyne  and  General  Howe  were  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  they  endeavored  to  lay 
all  the  blame  for  their  non-success  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  ministry.  In  this  attack  they  were  assisted  by 
Admiral  Keppel,  who,  with  a  large  fleet,  had  done 
absolutely  nothing.  Spain  now  joined  France  against 
England,  and  the  Irish  also  bestirred  themselves  and 
demanded  better  treatment.  In  the  face  of  all  these 
difficulties  Lord  North  wished  to  resign;  but  the  king 
prevailed  on  him  to  remain  in  office  for  a  while  longer. 
The  Opposition  now  adopted  a  new  party  cry.  For 
years  the  Whig  ministers  —  Sir  Robert  Walpole  and 
the  Pelhams — had  maintained  their  power  by  bribery 
and  corruption,  and  the  Whigs  had  then  seen  nothing 
wrong  in  the  system.  Now,  however,  the  king  was 
using  the  same  means  to  keep  an  obedient  ministry  in 
office,  and  to  keep  his  opponents  out.  All  the  evils  of 
government  by  corruption  became  at  once  apparent  to 
the  Whigs.  They  put  themselves  forward  as  the  advo- 
cates  of  a  more  economical  administration.  They  also 
advocated  keeping  government  contractors  out  of  the 
House  of  Commons. 

In  1778  some  of  the  laws  against  the  English  Roman 
Catholics  had  been  modified  or  repealed.     This 
George    was  disagreeable  to  many  Englishmen,  and  in 
Ri'Jts""    1780,  at  the  head  of  a  mob  of   sixty  thousand 
'^  °  '     persons,  Lord  George  Gordon  carried  to  Parlia- 
ment a  petition  against  the  Catholics.     For  the  next  few 


»78o.]  THE   SOUTHERN  CAMPAIGNS.  28 1 

days  London  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  rioters.  Houses 
were  destroyed,  shops  broken  open  and  plundered. 
At  length  the  king  took  the  matter  into  his  own 
hands,  and  the  mob  was  dispersed.  Dickens's  novel, 
"Barnaby  Rudge,"  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  all  this 
excitement. 

In  1779  Savannah  and  Georgia  were  taken  by  the 
British,  and,  in  1780,  Sir  Henry  Clinton  again  came 
south,  and  in  May  captured  Charleston.  He,  The 
however,  returned  soon  after  to  New  York,  cam-''^"" 
to  watch  the  movements  of  a  French  fleet  P^ig"*- 
which  reached  Newport  in  the  summer  of  1780.  Corn- 
wallis,  Clinton's  successor  in  the  South,  defeated 
General  Gates  in  a  battle  near  Camden,  and  to  all 
appearance  put  an  end  to  resistance  in  the  Southern 
colonies.  But  not  long  after,  a  force  of  hardy  pioneers 
from  beyond  the  mountains  captured  an  important  de- 
tachment at  King's  Mountain,  and  in  December,  1780, 
General  Nathanael  Greene  took  the  principal  charge 
of  the  campaign.  The  British,  in  January,  1781,  un- 
der Cornwallis's  lieutenant,  Colonel  Tarleton,  were 
defeated  at  the  Cowpens,  and  in  a  few  weeks,  after 
much  manoeuvring,  the  two  main  armies  came  together 
at  Guilford  Court-House.  At  the  end  of  the  contest 
Cornwallis  retained  the  field  of  battle,  but  his  losses 
had  been  so  great  in  men  and  stores  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  retire  to  Wilmington.  Thus  Greene  had  won 
the  campaign.  The  interior  of  North  Carolina  was 
clear  of  the  enemy,  and  he  marched  to  South  Carolina. 
By  the  autumn  of  1781  the  British  forces  there  were 
also  withdrawn  to  the  seaboard.  Cornwallis  marched 
north  from  Wilmington  into  Virginia,  and  Washington 
ordered  Lafayette  with  the  light  troops  of  the  Continental 


2S2 


GEORGE  III. 


[1780. 


line  to  watch  him.  Both  sides  ere  long  went  into  camp 
for  the  winter,  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  Lafayette 
at  Malvern  Hill,  and  later  at  Williamsburg.  In  the 
summer  of    1780    Marquis    Rochambeau    had    arrived 

at  Newport  with  a 
strong  force  of 
French  veteran  sol- 
diers ;  but  before 
the  ships,  which 
brought  this  army 
from  France,  could 
get  away,  the  Eng- 
lish fleet  appeared, 
and  blockaded  them 
in  the  harbor  of 
Newport.  The 
French  army  was 
compelled  to  wait 
at  Newport  to  pro- 
tect the  fleet,  and 
for  a  year  was  prac- 
tically useless.  In 
September,  Wash- 
ington and  Rocham- 
beau held  a  confer- 
ence. While  Wash- 
ington    was     away 


COSTUMES    OF    PERSONS    OF   QUALITY, 
ABOUT    1783. 


from  his   army,   Benedict   Arnold,  who  had  taken  of- 
.     ,,     fence   at  his  treatment   at    Saratoga,   formed  a 

Arnold's 

treason     plan  to  Surrender  the  strong  forts  at  West  Point, 

with    its    garrison    and    stores,    to    the  British. 

Major  Andre,  a  young  officer  of  Clinton's  army,  came 

to  West  Point  to  conclude  arrano:ements  with  Arnold. 


lySr  ]  CAPTURE  OF  YORKTOWN.  283 

In  disguise,  and  with  compromising  papers  in  his 
boots,  he  was  captured  by  a  party  of  Americans. 
Arnold  escaped,  but  Washington  was  compelled  to 
treat  Andre  as  a  spy,  and  as  a  spy  he  was  hanged. 

During  the  summer  of  1781  it  became  known  to 
Washington  and  Rochambeau  that  a  powerful  French 
fleet  under  Comte  de  Grasse  would  arrive  at  the   ^ 

Capture 

mouth  of  Chesapeake  Bay  early  in  September,  of 
It  was  decided  to  march. the  allied  army  from  town 
Newport  and  New  York  to  Virginia,  to  join  ^^^  '^' 
Lafayette  and  any  French  troops  De  Grasse  might 
bring,  and,  while  the  French  fleet  should  prevent  Clin- 
ton from  reinforcing  Cornwall  is,  to  capture  him  and 
his  army.  This  programme  was  carried  out  to  the  let- 
ter. The  French  ships  at  Newport  slipped  out  of  the 
harbor,  and  reached  the  Chesapeake  safely.  De  Grasse 
and  the  allied  armies  arrived  in  good  time  to  come  to- 
gether. De  Grasse  fought  a  battle  with  the  English 
fleet;  but  while  neither  side  was  victorious,  all  the 
advantages  of  victory  were  gained  by  the  allies,  as  the 
English  fleet  was  obliged  to  return  to  New  York  for 
the  purpose  of  refitting  before  it  again  put  to  sea. 
Cornwallis  surrendered  Yorktown,  with  its  defenders, 
Oct.  19,  1 78 1.  This  was  the  last  important  conflict 
between  the  English  and  the  Americans.  But  the  war 
was  still  vigorously  prosecuted  against  the  allies  of  the 
colonies. 

The  royal  disaster  at  Yorktown  not  only  settled  the 
question  whether  America  should  be  free,  but  it  also 
decided  the  fate  of  the  North  ministry.      Lord  Endofthe 
George  Germaine,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  was  Ministry 
the  first  to  resign.     He  had  had  the  principal  ('781). 
direction   of    the  war    in  America,   and    to    his    mis- 


284  GEORGE   III.  [1782. 

management  the  failure  of  the  British  armies  was 
largely  due.  He  was  now  raised  to  the  peerage  as 
Lord  Sackville.  As  he  had  been  dismissed  from  the 
army  during  the  Seven  Years'  War  for  disobedience  to 
orders,  many  peers  objected  to  his  sitting  in  the  House 
of  Lords;  but  they  could  do  nothing  to  prevent  it. 
The  Opposition  in  the  Commons  now  rapidly  acquired 
strength.  The  20th  of  March,  1782,  was  selected  for 
a  great  attack  on  the  Government.  But  when  that  day 
came,  Lord  North  seized  a  chance  to  speak,  and  an- 
nounced the  resignation  of  the  ministry;  and  the 
House,  as  was  its  custom,  adjourned,  to  give  the  Oppo- 
sition leaders  time  to  talk  over  their  future  plans.  It 
was  a  harsh,  wet  night,  and  the  members,  expecting  a 
long  debate,  had  sent  their  carriages  away.  Lord 
North  had  retained  his,  and  stepping  into  it,  he  re- 
marked, with  a  smile,  "  You  see,  gentlemen,  the 
advantage  of  being  in  the  secret."  In  fact,  this  un- 
broken good  nature  was  Lord  North's  most  noteworthy 
characteristic.  He  even  used  to  fall  into  a  gentle 
slumber  while  Fox  and  Burke  were  attacking  him  and 
his  Government. 

The  Marquis  of   Rockingham  and  the  Whigs   now 

took  office.      Charles  James  Fox  and  Lord  Shelburne 

were  the  two  Secretaries  of  State  and  the  real  leaders 

of   the    Government,    in   which    Lord   Camden, 

Tnp. 

Rocking-  Admiral  Keppel,  and  Edmund  Burke  had  places. 
Ministry  Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow  alone  represented  the 
''  ^''  king.  The  ministry  had  three  important  ques- 
tions to  settle,  —  the  conclusion  of  peace,  the  reform 
of  the  home  administration,  and  the  pacification  of 
Ireland.  The  Irish  question  will  be  best  considered 
later  in  connection  with  the  union.     To  the  Opposition 


i782.]  THE   ROCKINGHAM  MINISTRY.  285 

in  power  the  project  of  a  reform  of  the  administration 
in  the  direction  of  purity  and  economy  seemed  less 
desirable  than  it  had  seemed  while  others  were  enjoy- 
ing the  spoils.  It  was  desirable,  however,  at  least  to 
seem  to  carry  out  their  former  promises.     A  bill  was 


EDMUND   BURKE  :     FROM   A   PAINTING    BY   REYNOLDS   IN 
THE   NATIONAL    PORTRAIT  GALLERY. 

passed  abolishing  many  abuses,  though  not  till  the 
Whigs  had  secured  a  good  deal  of  spoil  for  themselves. 
Edmund  Burke  alone  consistently  refused  to  share  in 
the  general  distribution. 

The    Rockingham    ministry   had    come    into    power 
mainly  on  account  of  the  disasters  in  America.     Peace 


286  GEORGE  III.  [1782. 

with  America  was  their  policy.  They  believed  that 
the  Americans  might  be  detached  from  the  French  as 
the  price  of  independence,  provided  ample  concessions 
in  the  way  of  boundaries  were  made  in  return.  Now 
it  so  happened  that  John  Jay,  himself  of  French 
descent,  and  John  Adams,  two  of  the  American  com- 
missioners to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace,  distrusted 
the  French  Government.  They  believed  that  France 
was  using  the  United  States  as  a  tool  for  her  own 
ends,  and  was  really  opposed  to  the  extension  of  the 
new  state  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  Jay  was  right  in  his  belief;  but  for  a  long  time 
the  third  commissioner,  Benjamin  Franklin,  refused' 
to  believe  him.  The  treaty  of  alliance  provided  that 
neither  party  should  make  peace  without  the  other,  and 
the  instructions  to  the  American  commissioners  ordered 
them  to  act  in  conjunction  with  the  French  Govern- 
ment. Finally,  however,  Jay  prevailed.  The  com- 
missioners broke  their  instructions,  and,  without  the 
knowledge    of    the    French    Government,   con- 

Indepen-  r  •    1  1  •    i 

dence  cludcd  an  agreement,  or  set  or  articles,  which 
edged"^^  should  be  made  into  a  treaty  whenever  France 
^^'^^^^"  and  England  should  make  peace.  In  this  way 
the  United  States  became  an  independent  nation,  with 
boundaries  extending  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  on  the 
west,  and  as  far  south  as  the  thirty-first  parallel  of 
latitude.  Before  the  treaty  was  actually  concluded, 
Rockingham  died,  and  Fox,  who  had  quarrelled  with 
Shelburne,  withdrew  from  the  Government  with  his 
friends.  Shelburne  became  Prime  Minister,  and  had 
for  his  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  a  young  man  of 
twenty-three,  —  William  Pitt,  —  the  younger  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Chatham. 


1783.]  CONCLUSION   OF  THE  WAR.  28/ 

After  the  disaster  at  Yorktown,  England  was  every- 
where successful.     Gibraltar,  which  the  Spaniards  and 
French  had  been  besieging  since  1779,  was  re-   ^^   . 
inforced,  and  supplied  with  provisions  in  1782.    sion 
In  the  same  year  Admiral  Rodney  defeated,  with    War 
great  loss,  the  Comte  de  Grasse  off  Martinique.         ^ ' 
These  two  disasters  made  France  and  Spain  willing  to 
make  peace  on  reasonable  terms,  and  in  September, 
1783,  the  treaties  were  signed  at  Versailles  and  Paris. 
In  the  course  of  the  war  Spain  had  overrun  the  Flori- 
das,  and  at  the  peace  she  retained  all  of  North  America 
south  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  Louisiana,  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River. 


OUTLINE. 

George  III.  determines  to  govern.  Pitt  and  Newcastle  forced 
from  office,  and  peace  made  with  France  and  Spain.  "  Wilkes  and 
Liberty."  Events  leading  to  the  American  Revolution:  enforce- 
ment of  the  trade  laws,  the  Stamp  Act,  the  Declaratory  Act,  the 
Townshend  Acts,  the  repressive  laws  of  1774.  The  Rockingham 
Ministry,  the  Chatham  Ministry,  rise  of  Lord  North.  Publication 
of  the  debates  in  Parliament.  Campaigns  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  Anti-Roman-Catholic  riots  in  England;  the  Whigs  and 
reform  ;  independence  of  the  United  States. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  were  general  warrants? 

2.  Describe  the  regency  question. 

3.  What  was  the  party  of  the  '•  King's  Friends  "  ? 

4.  Why  did  the  colonists  object  to  drinking  cheap  English  tea.? 

5.  Why  was  the  disaster  to  the  English  at  Yorktown  "royal"? 
What  results  flowed  from  it  ? 

TOPICS. 

Edmund  Burke's  ideas  as  to  the  taxation  of  the  colonists 
Burke's  Speeches  on  Aniericaii  Taxation. 


288  GEORGE  III.  [1783. 


CHAPTER  XXXy. 

GEORGE    III. 

1 760-1820. 

Part  II.     1783-1820. 

FOR  years  Charles  James  Fox  and  Lord  North  had 
sat  on  opposite  sides  of  the  House  of  (^ommons, 
The  and  had  abused  each  other  in  the  most  outra- 
tion"'"  geous  fashion.  They  now  joined  hands,  or  coa- 
i^7^3)-  lesced,  to  turn  Shelburne  out  of  office,  and  put 
themselves  in.  Between  them  they  possessed  a  large 
majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  1783  Shel- 
burne resigned,  and  North  and  Fox  came  in.  The 
king  was  furiously  indignant.  He  hated  Fox,  and  did 
not  wish  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him.  But  he  was 
enraged  above  all  at  the  ingratitude  of  Lord  North, 
for  whom  he  had  done  so  much.  At  first  the  king 
declared  he  would  go  to  Hanover.  But  sober  second 
thought  convinced  him  it  would  be  better  to  endure 
Fox  and  North  for  a  while  till  something  should  turn 
up  which  would  bring  about  their  downfall.  He  did 
not  have  long  to  wait. 

The  English  East  India  Company  had  made  itself 
master  of  a  large  part  of  India.  The  Company  was 
Fox's  fii^st  of  all  a  business  venture,  and  must  pay 
gjf/*  dividends  to  its  stockholders.  The  hostility 
(1783)  of  the  French,  and  the  desire  to  extend  the 
Company's  boundaries,   gave  rise  to    incessant  wars, 


17^3']  WILLIAM   POT,   PRIME  MINISTER.  289 

which  cost  enormous  sums  of  money.  The  Gover- 
nor-general was  now  Warren  Hastings.  To  meet  the 
demands  for  funds  in  India  and  in  England  he  had 
resorted  to  many  tyrannical  measures,  and  great  hard- 
ship and  oppression  to  the  natives  had  resulted.  It 
was  perfectly  plain  that  this  state  of  things  could 
not  be  allowed  to  exist  indefinitely.  Fox  and  Burke 
drew  up  a  bill  for  the  better  government  of  India,  by 
which  the  political  control  of  the  country  was  placed 
under  the  Home  Government.  This  was  all  very 
well,  except  that  Fox  so  arranged  matters  that  the 
appointment  to  the  offices  in  India  would  be  in  his 
hands,  or  in  those  of  his  political  friends,  even  if  he 
ceased  to  be  in  the  ministry.  This  of  course  aroused 
great  opposition.  The  king  saw  his  chance,  and  when 
the  bill  came  to  the  Lords,  declared  he  should  regard 
any  peer  who  voted  for  it  as  his  personal  enemy.  The 
measure  was  defeated,  and  the  king  sent  an  under- 
officer  to  tell  North  and  Fox  that  they  were  dismissed. 
He  chose  as  his  new  Prime  Minister  William  Pitt,  now 
twenty-four  years  of  age. 

While  still  a  youth  in  appearance,  William  Pitt,  as 
a  political  leader  and  debater  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons,  had  no  equal.     As  a  war  minister  and 
orator  he  was  inferior  to  his  father;  in  all  else  put, 
he  was  his  superior.      Besides  the  small  party  Min?s^ter 
called   the    "King's    Friends,"   and   those   few  ^^J^A~ 
members   who    remained    true   to   his    father's 
principles,  William  Pitt  had  no  adherents  in  the  Com- 
mons. In  fact,  almost  all  his  companions  in  the  minis- 
try were   members   of   the    House  of  Peers.     Alone, 
therefore,  he  faced  the  combined  oratory  of  Fox,  Burke, 
Sheridan,  and  Lord  North.     But  the  lack  of  principle 

19 


290 


GEORGE  111. 


[1783 


shown  by  Fox  and  North  in  making  their  coalition  had 
disgusted  a  great  many  people.  One  by  one  their  ad- 
herents went  over  to  the  side  of  Pitt  and  the  king, 
till  the  majority  against  him  was  reduced  to  one. 
Then  Parliament  was  dissolved.  In  the  general  elec- 
tion which  followed, 
one  hundred  and  sixty 
of  Fox's  friends 
(''Fox's  Martyrs," 
they  were  called)  lost 
their  seats.  Pitt  had 
a  great  majority,  and 
it  was  full  half  a  cen- 
tury before  the  Whig 
party  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  this 
blow. 

Secure  now  of  a  ma- 
jority,   Pitt    brought 
in  a  new  India  Bill, 
Pitt's    establishing      a 
b"ii'^    Board    of    Con- 
(1784)-  trol  resident  in 
England,  and  consist- 
ing of  members  of  the 
ministry,   as   the   su- 
preme governing  body.     The  business  management  of 
the  Company  was  left  to  its  directors.     This  system 
of  "  double  government"  lasted  till  1858. 

The  leading  feature  of  the  first  half  of  Pitt's  long 
ministry  was  his  financial  policy.  He  was  a  friend 
and  disciple  of  Adam  Smith,  and  believed  in  interna- 
tional  friendliness   in  matters   of  business.     For   cen- 


PITT  SPEAKING  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  COM- 
MONS; FROM  HUCKEL'S  PAINTING  IN 
THE  NATIONAL  PORTRAIT  GALLERY. 


1788.]  TRIAL  OF  WARREN  HASTINGS.  29 1 

turies  England  and  France  had  been  injuring  each 
other's  trade  as  much  as  possible.  It  seemed  to  Pitt 
best  that  the  two  countries  should  buy  of  one  an- 

Pitt's 

Other  what  each  country  could  best  produce.  A  financial 
commercial  treaty  between  them  was  made.  Pitt  ^°  ^^^' 
wished  to  extend  the  same  principle  by  establishing 
freedom  of  trade  between  Ireland  and  England.  But 
English  manufacturers  were  too  much  afraid  of  Irish 
competition,  and  the  scheme  fell  through.  Pitt  also 
thought  that  England  should  try  to  pay  her  national 
debt,  and  he  planned  a  Sinking  Fund  by  which  this  would 
be  accomplished  in  time.  For  a  while  this  scheme 
worked  well;  but  in  the  great  wars  which  soon  fol- 
lowed, all  thought  of  paying  the  debt  was  for  a  time 
abandoned,  and  the  money  already  saved  for  the  pur- 
pose was  used  to  prosecute  the  war.  Another  scheme 
that  Pitt  had  much  at  heart  was  a  reform  of  the  repre- 
sentation in  the  House  of  Commons.  But  the  time 
had  not  yet  come  for  this,  and  the  plan  failed. 

In  1785  Warren  Hastings  returned  home  from  India. 
While  drawing  up  their  India  Bill,  Fox  and  Burke 
had  come  across  acts  that  seemed  like  extortion  and 
tyranny  on  the  part  of  Hastings.  They  now  Trial  of 
presented  Articles  of  Impeachment ;  and  as  Pitt  HStf^gs 
refused  to  interfere  in  the  matter,  Hastings  was  ('788). 
impeached.  The  trial  began  before  the  Peers  in  1788, 
and  continued  at  intervals  for  seven  years.  Hastings 
was  finally  acquitted. 

In  1788  the  king  again  became  insane.     The  Prince 
of  Wales  was  the  boon  companion  of  Fox,  who  now 
proposed   that   the   prince  should,   of   his  own   ^,^g 
authority,  assume  the  title  of  regent,  with  full    ^^^ency 
power.     Of  course  this  meant  the  overthrow  of   (1788). 


292 


GEORGE  III. 


[1793- 


Pitt.  It  happened  that  Pitt  and  the  doctors  re- 
garded the  king's  attack  as  temporary.  Pitt  thought 
it  would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  king  when  he  re- 


HEAD-DRESS  OF   A    LADY  (mrS.  ABTNGTON),  ABOUT  1778  :     FROM 
THE    "  EUROPEAN    MAGAZINE." 


covered,  to  find  affairs  as  little  changed  as  possible. 
He  therefore  proposed  to  limit  the  powers  of  the  re- 
gent, at  least  until  the  king  should  become,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  doctors,  permanently  insane,     To  this 


1793-]     FRANCE  DECLARES  WAR  AGAINST  ENGLAND.    293 

Fox  would  not  listen,  and  while  the  two  sides  were 
still  debating,  the  king  recovered,  and  Pitt  was  firmer 
than  ever  in  his  office. 

In  1789  began  the  great  social  upheaval  in  France 
known  as  the  French  Revolution.  At  first  most  Eng- 
lishmen sympathized  with  the  movement.  But  The 
when  it  became  apparent  that  the  revolutionary  Kevoiu- 
leaders  were  aiming  to  establish  a  democratic  ''°"' 
form  of  government,  many  Englishmen  took  alarm. 
At  the  same  time  societies  for  political  reform  sprang 
up  in  England.  Edmund  Burke  became  the  leader  of 
those  opposed  to  change.  He  wrote  a  book  called 
"Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution."  In  this 
book  he  enlarged  on  the  democratic  tendencies  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  called  the  Frenchmen  "the 
ablest  architects  of  ruin  that  have  hitherto  existed  in 
the  world." 

For   four   years    Pitt    maintained   a  policy  of   non- 
intervention.    But  in   1792   France  offered  aid  to  all 
nations  who  would    overthrow  their  rulers.      In   1793 
those  who  sympathized  with  the  excesses   in   France 
grew  more  outspoken  in  England.     Pitt,  now  himself 
alarmed,   called  out   the    militia,   and  carried  an  Act 
through     Parliament    giving    the    Government   France 
control  of  the  movements  of  aliens, or  strangers,  war 
visiting    England.      France    now   declared    war  §^g"aJd 
on  England,  although  she  was  even  then  at  war  ('793)- 
with  nearly  all  western  Europe.     At  the  time,  Pitt's 
attitude    of    repression    and    opposition    was    greatly 
applauded.     But   some  historical   writers  now  regard 
it  as  a  very  great  political  blunder. 

During  the  early  years  of  this  war  Pitt  contented 
himself  with  hiring  Austria  and  Prussia  to  fight  Eng- 


294  GEORGE  III.  [1797 

land's  battles  on  the  land.  He  also  helped  the  royal- 
ists to  return  to  France  to  stir  up  disaffection  and  re- 
Pitt's  bellions  against  the  central  government  atParis. 
policy.  Q£  course  the  English  navy  was  not  idle.  As 
the  war  went  on,  Pitt's  home  policy  became  more  and 
more  repressive.  The  most  insignificant  publications 
and  disturbances  were  treated  as  the  beginnings  of 
revolution.  But  there  seems  to  have  been  no  real 
danger,  although  there  was  much  suffering  among  the 
s  ecie  working-people,  and  although  the  king  was  more 
payments  than  oncc   insultcd   in  the  streets.     Then  fol- 

suspend-  .  . 

ed  lowed  a  great  scarcity  of  money  m   England. 

•  Much  was  sent  abroad  by  the  Government,  and 
much  was  hoarded  at  home  by  careful  people.  At 
length  the  cash  in  the  Bank  of  England  was  so  dimin- 
ished that  the  Government  ordered  it  to  suspend  specie 
payments,  and  they  were  not  resumed  till  18 19. 

In  this  year,  1797,  two  mutinies  broke  out  in  the 
fleet, —  one  at  Spithead,  by  tlie  Isle  of  Wight,  the 
Mutinies  othcr  at  the  Nore,  in  the  Thames.  The  sailors 
fleet  were  soon  brought  to  terms,  and  many  of  their 
(1797).  demands  granted.  A  few  months  later  some  of 
these  very  seamen  won  the  battle  of  Camperdown  over 
the  Dutch  and  French  fleet. 

France  was  now  at  peace  with  all  the  rest  of  Europe, 
and  as  she  could  not,  owing  to  this  disaster  at  Camper- 
down,  attack  England  directly,  she  sent  an  army 
of  to  seize  Egypt,  which  lies  on  the  road  to  Eng- 

Esrypt 

land's  possessions  in  India.  The  leader  of  this 
invasion  was  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  On  his  way  to 
Egypt  he  seized  the  island  of  Malta,  which  up  to  that 
time  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  Knights  of  Malta. 
All  this  time  there  was  in  the  Mediterranean  a  great 


1779-]      IRELAND  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY.        295 

English  fleet  commanded  by  Admiral  Nelson;  but  he 
did  not  find  Napoleon's  fleet  till  the  French  Battle 
general  had  been  on  shore  about  two  weeks,  ^iie* 
Nelson  attacked  it  as  it  lay  at  anchor  in  Aboukir  <»798). 
Bay,  and  captured  or  destroyed  all  but  two  of  the  French 
ships.  The  French  army  never  left  Egypt,  But  in 
1799  Napoleon  returned  home,  and  made  himself  ruler 
of  France.  We  must  now  turn  to  Ireland;  for  the 
French  now  helped  the  Irish  against  England,  as 
formerly  they  had  assisted  the  Scots. 

The  Irish  Roman  Catholics  formed  the  great  mass 
of  the  population  of  Ireland,  but  they  were  ruled  over 
by  the  small  minority  of  English  and  Scottish 
Protestants.  Successive  conquests  had  given  in  the 
nearly  all  the  power  to  the  Protestants.  They  teenth 
regarded  the  Irish  Catholics  as  a  half-barbarized  *^^"*"''y- 
and  degraded  race,  much  as  some  of  our  ancestors  in 
this  country  regarded  the  negro.  An  Irish  Roman 
Catholic  could  not  marry  a  Protestant.  He  could  not 
serve  on  a  grand  jury,  practise  law,  or  act  as  a  magis- 
trate. He  was  not  allowed  to  carry  arms,  and  it  was 
against  the  law  for  him  to  educate  his  children  through 
Roman  Catholic  teachers.  He  was  compelled  to  pay 
taxes  for  the  support  of  the  Established  Protestant 
Church,  which  he  detested.  And  finally  he  could 
neither  sit  in  any  Parliament  nor  vote  for  a  member 
of  any  Parliament. 

During  the  American  Revolution  the  English  troops 
previously  stationed  in  Ireland  were  sent  to  America, 
and  an  association  of  Protestant  Volunteers  was    The 
formed  to  preserve  the  peace  in   Ireland.     In   J^J^"' 
1779,    under   the    lead  of    Henry  Grattan,    the   ^'779)- 
Volunteers  turned  against  the  Government,  and  some 


296  GEORGE  III.  [1798. 

modifications  of  the  trade  laws  were  made.  In  1782 
the  Catholics  joined  the  Protestants  in  urging  their 
demands,  and  the  Rockingham  ministry  so  far  yielded 
as  to  give  up  the  right  of  the  British  Parliament  to 
legislate  for  Ireland. 

The  ideas  of  equality  forced  on  the  world  by  the 
French  Revolution  spread  to  Ireland,  and  in  1789  a 
The  great  association  of  Catholic  and  Protestant 
tnhe^  Irishmen  —  The  United  Irishmen  —  was  formed. 
mI-^  In  1792  and  1793  two  Acts  were  passed,  repealing 
nien.  the  morc  odious  laws  against  the  Catholics,  and 
even  allowing  them  to  vote  for  members  of  the  Irish 
Parliament.  But  as  no  Catholic  could  sit  in  that 
Parliament,  this  last  right  really  amounted  to  little. 
Later  a  bill  was  introduced  to  allow  Catholics  to  sit  in 
Parliament.  But  the  king  became  convinced  that  if  he 
assented  to  this  he  would  violate  his  coronation  oath, 
which  obliges  him  to  maintain  the  Protestant  Church 
as  established  by  law.     The  plan  was  abandoned. 

The  Irish  leaders  now  thought  the  only  way  to 
secure  their  rights  lay  in  complete  separation  from 
Great  Britain.  To  counteract  them  the  Protestants 
formed  a  secret  society,  calling  themselves  Orange- 
men,  in  memory  of  William  of  Orange.     The 

Rebellion  '  ^      ,        .  ^      ^    r  -■, 

(1796-  discontented  Catholics  appealed  for  aid  to  the 
^^^  French,  and  in  1796  a  French  fleet  anchored  off 
the  Irish  coast.  A  storm  arose,  and  no  Irish  appeared, 
and  the  fleet  returned  to  France.  When  the  French- 
men were  gone,  the  Irish  rose  in  various  places.  The 
rebellion  was  soon  put  down  with  much  vigor  and  great 
cruelty  by  General  Lake.  The  only  conflict  worthy 
the  name  of  battle  was  at  Vinegar  Hill,  in  1798.  In 
1799  the  French  decided  to  invade  England,  and  also 


i8oo.]  THE  UNION.  297 

attack  her  on  her  weak  side  in  Ireland.  But  the 
French  and  Spanish  fleets  were  thoroughly  beaten  by 
the  English,  off  Cape  St.  Vincent,  and  nothing  came 
of  this  attempt. 

Lord  Cornwallis  now   became  Lord    Lieutenant,   or 
Governor,  of  Ireland.     He  had  for  his  secretary  Lord 
Castlereagh,   a  young  Irish   Protestant.     They 
soon    decided   that    the    only    cure    for    Irish      Union 
troubles  was   a  union  with   England,   like   the 
union   made  with    Scotland    in    the    early  part   of  the 
century.     Pitt  had  already  made  up  his  mind  that  this 
would  be  the  best  policy.     So  Cornwallis  and  Castle- 
reagh secured  a  majority  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  vote 
its  dissolution.     In  1800  the  Act  of  Union  passed  the 
Parliaments  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.     By  this  Act 
Ireland  was  to  send   one   hundred   commoners  to  the 
House  of  Commons  of  the  United  Kingdom  ;  while  the 
Irish  peerage  was  to  be  represented  in  the  House  of 
Lords  by  twenty-eight  Irish  peers,  elected  for  life. 

The  Irish  Catholics  had  not  opposed  the  Union, 
probably  because  they  expected  Catholics  would  be 
allowed  to  sit  in  the  Parliament  of  the  United  King- 
dom. What  promises  Pitt  and  Cornwallis  may  have 
made  is  not  known.     But  Pitt,  when  he  found   _ 

Emmett's 

that  the  king  would  not  permit  any  con-  Rebellion 
cessions  to  be  made  to  the  Catholics,  felt 
obliged  to  resign.  In  fact,  the  Irish  Catholics  gained 
nothing  by  the  Union.  Their  discontent  resulted  in 
Emmett's  Rebellion  in  1803.  It  was  easily  put  down, 
and  Emmett  was  hanged. 

Pitt  was  followed  by  Addington,  whose  principal  re- 
commendation for  office  was  the  favor  of  the  king. 
By  this  time  Napoleon  had  conquered  most  of  west- 


2gS  GEORGE  III.  [1805 

ern  Europe,  while  the  EngHsh  had  been  successful 
Peace  of  wherever  their  navy  could  be  used  to  advan- 
Amiens.  ^^^^^  There  seemed  to  be  no  way  of  attacking 
each  other  directly,  and  in  1802  peace  was  made  at 
Amiens. 

This  peace,  however,  did  not  last  long.  Neither 
party  trusted  the  other,  and  neither  France  nor  Eng- 
land acted  in  perfect  good  faith.  In  addition,  England 
^^^^  furnished    a    refuge    to    Frenchmen    hostile    to 

renewed  Napoleou,  and  from  London  they  attacked 
(1803).       I-       •       1  . 

hun    ni    the    newspapers    with    great    violence 

So  in  1803  the  war  began  anew.  It  lasted  till  181 5, 
and  was  waged  by  England  and  her  allies  against  the 
ambitious  designs  of  Napoleon,  who  took  the  title  of 
Emperor  of  the  French. 

Napoleon's  first  idea  was  to  invade  England,  and 
he  made  great  preparations  to  embark  his  army  at 
Boulogne.  He  had  control  of  the  fleets  of  France, 
Holland,  and  Spain,  and  determined  to  combine  them 
against  the  English  fleet,  and  thus  make  the  passage 
for  his  army  to  England  secure.  But  now  once  more  the 
English  showed  their  great  superiority  on  the  water. 
Admiral  Nelson  caught  the  French  and  Spanish  fleet 
Trafalgar  off  Cape  Trafalgar.  He  hoisted  at  his  mast- 
(1805).  head  his  famous  signals,  which  read,  "  England 
expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty !  "  The  allied  fleet 
numbered  thirty-three  line-of-battle  ships,  and  seven 
smaller  vessels.  Nelson  had  with  him  but  twenty- 
seven  ships.  Of  those  forty  ships  of  the  allies  only 
eight  ever  reached  a  friendly  port.  It  was  only  on  the 
sea,  however,  that  the  French  were  defeated.  On  the 
land  they  were  everywhere  victorious.  The  Austrians 
joining  the  English,  Napoleon    captured  one  Austrian 


iSo;.]  TORY  MINISTRY.  299 

army  at  Ulm,  in  October,  and  overthrew  a  combined 
army  of  Austrians  and  Russians  at  Austerlitz  on  De- 
cember 2d,   icSo5. 

Meantime    William    Pitt    had    again    become    Prime 
Minister.      His  health   had   always   been   poor,    p.^^,^ 
and  these  disasters  to  England's  allies,  coupled    Second 

^  '^  Ministry 

with   the  attacks  of  the   Opposition    at   home,    (1S04- 
proved  too  great  a  burden.     In  January,  1806, 
he  died.     A  ministry  was  now  formed,  comprising  men 
of  all    parties;    hence    it    was   called   the   min-    ah  the 
istry   of  "All    the   Talents."       Lord    Grenville    l^^^t' 
:and  Mr.  P^ox  were  its  leading  members.     P'ox    ^^°7). 
was    Foreign    Secretary.      He    had   always    maintained 
that    if  Napoleon    were    treated    fairly,  he    would    act 
honestly  in  return      In  a  short  time  he  was  undeceived; 
and,  worn  out  by  care  and  dissipation,  he  followed  Pitt 
to  the  grave.     Side  by  side  the  two  are  buried  in  West- 
minster Abbey. 

"  The  mighty  chiefs  sleep  side  by  side. 
Drop  upon  Fox's  grave  the  tear, 
'T  will  trickle  to  his  rival's  bier ; 
O'er  Pitt's  the  mournful  requiem  sound, 
And  Fox's  shall  the  notes  rebound." 

Left  to  himself,  Lord  Grenville  tried  to  modify  the 
laws  against  the  Catholics' serving  in  the  army,  and  was 
dismissed  by  the  king.     A  Tory  ministry  was   Tory 
then  formed,  which  lasted,  with  some  changes,    fjSofj^ 
till  1827.     Mr.  Spencer  Perceval  was  at  first  the    ^^27). 
real  head  of  this  Government,  though  for  a  time  he  only 
held  the  oflFice  of  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.     The 
two  most  remarkable  members  were  Mr.  George  Can- 
ning  and    Lord    Castlereagh,    Secretaries    for    Foreign 
Affairs  and  War. 


300  GEORGE  III.  [1809. 

While  these  changes  had  been  taking  place  in  Eng- 
land, Napoleon  had  in  turn  defeated  the  Prussians,  the 
Russians,  and  the  Austrians.     In  fact  the  Czar 

Napo- 
leon's        of    Russia    became    for    a    while    the    ally    of 
successes      ^.^         1  1  1  ,  .  .  . 

Napoleon,    who,    to    strengthen    his    position, 
married  a  daughter   of  the   Emperor  of  Austria.     He 


LORD    NELSON  :     FROM    THE    PICTURE    BY   ABBOTT    IN   THE 
NATIONAL    PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 


was  now  master  of  Europe,  with  the  exception  of 
Spain  and  England.  He  again  turned  his  attention 
to  the  invasion  of  the  latter  country.     During  all  this 


i8o9.]  THE  PENINSULAR  WAR.  301 

time  the  Danes  had  preserved  a  good-sized  and  well- 
manned  fleet.  Napoleon  resolved  to  add  these  vessels 
to  those  he  still  controlled,  and  with  their  aid  attack 
England.  But  Canning  heard  of  Napoleon's  plans,  and 
sent  an  English  fleet  to  Copenhagen  which  seized  the 
Danish  fleet  and  brought  it  to  England.  Thus  once 
again  all  fears  of  invasion  were  removed 

Napoleon  then  conquered  Spain,  and  tried  to  make  his 
brother  king  of  that  country.     But  the  Spaniards  were  a 
high-spirited   people,  and   resisted   this  foreign 
domination.    The  English  at  first  sent  the  Span-  Spanish 

,  ,  ,      ,  resistance. 

lards  money  and   arms,   and   then  an    army  to 
help  them.     But  these  early  efforts  produced  little  per- 
manent result.     In  1809,  too,  the  English  tried  to  seize 
Antwerp,  and    failed   most    ignominiously.     This  same 
year,  however,  a  considerable  force  of  soldiers  ,   , 

-^  Arthur 

was  sent  to  Portugal,  and  the  Peninsular  War  Weiiesiev, 
really  began.  The  commander  of  the  English  Weiiing- 
army  was  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley.  He  had  already 
done  good  service  in  Portugal,  and  at  a  still  earlier  day 
had  achieved  great  distinction  in  India,  where  he  had 
won,  against  great  odds,  the  battles  of  Argaum  and 
Assaye.  In  a  short  time  he  drove  the  French  from 
Portugal,  and,  entering  Spain,  beat  them  at  Talavera. 
For  this  victory  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord 
Wellington  of  Talavera. 

Before  long  he  was  compelled  to   retire   to   Lisbon, 
near  which  town,  at  Torres  Vedras,  he   had  constructed 
great  works  to  shelter  his  army.     On  his  retreat  ^j^^ 
he    destroyed    or   carried    away    every    eatable   Penm- 

sular  War 


thing;  and  when  the  French  reached  Torres  (1809- 
Vedras,  they  could  not  attack  him,  and  retreated  '  ''^  " 
back  to   Spain  again,  to  avoid  being  starved.      Many 


302  GEORGE  III.  [1814, 

English  writers  regard  this  as  the  turning-point  of  the 
war,  and  say  that  the  lesson  taught  by  Wellington  at 
Torres  Vedras  saved  Europe.  At  all  events,  from  this 
time  on,  Napoleon  was  attacked,  first  on  this  side,  and 
then  on  that.    We  cannot  follow  Wellington's  campaigns 


THE   DUKE   OF  WELLINGTON  :    FROM   A    BUST   BY    FRANCIS 
IN   THE  NATIONAL    PORTRAIT  GALLERY. 

in  detail.  For  years  the  war  went  on  with  varying  for- 
tune. At  last,  in  181 3,  Wellington  overwhelmed  the 
French  at  Vittoria,  and,  forcing  them  north  over  the 
Pyrenees,  compelled  their  surrender  at  Toulouse  in 
1814. 

But  on  the  day  of  this  surrender  Napoleon  was  no 
longer  Emperor.     In  1812  he  quarrelled  with  the  Czar, 


i8i2.1  WAR  WITH  THE  UNITED   STATES.  303 

and  invaded  Russia.     Of  his  great  army  a  mere  fraction 
returned  to  France.     The  Prussians  and  Austrians  joined 
the  Russians.     Napoleon,  defeated  at  Leipzig,  re-    ^^^ 
treated  from  Germany.     The  allies  pressed  on,    kon's 
while  Wellington  entered  France  from  the  south, 
and  Napoleon  abdicated.     He  was  allowed  to  retire  to 
the  little  island  of  Elba.     Louis  XVL's  brother  became 
king  of  France  as  Louis  XVIIL,  and  the   allies  held  a 
great  Congress  at  Vienna  to  undo,  if  possible,  the  work 
of  the  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon.     Lord  Castle- 
reagh  and  Wellington,  now  become  Duke  of  Wellington, 
represented  England  at  this  meeting. 

While  all  this  had  been  going  on  in  Europe,  England 
had  become  involved  in  a  war  with  the  United  States. 
As  one  means  of  injuring  Napoleon,  the  English   ^^^  ^^ 
Government  had  issued  a  proclamation,  or  Order   1812 

"^  with  the 

in  Council,  as  it  was  called,  declarmg  all  the  United 
ports  of  Europe,  from  Brest  to  the  Elbe,  closed 
or  blockaded  to  commerce.  Napoleon  had  replied  with 
the  Berlin  Decree,  declaring  Great  Britain  blockaded. 
Now  there  was  some  excuse  for  this  first  Order  in 
Council,  as  the  English  were  actually  blockading  the 
ports  of  France  and  Holland.  But  Napoleon  could  not 
keep  a  French  fleet  on  the  sea,  and,  what  was  still  more 
laughable,  at  this  very  moment  when  he  declared  the 
commerce  of  England  at  an  end,  his  own  soldiers  were 
wearing  clothes  made  in  England.  Orders  in  Council 
and  Decrees  now  followed  in  quick  succession.  It 
happened  that  the  only  neutral  nation  possessing  any 
ships  at  that  time  was  the  United  States,  and  these 
decrees  ruined  many  American  shipowners.  Then,  too, 
there  was  another  cause  of  disagreement  with  England; 
for  English  cruisers  were  in  the  habit  of  stopping  Amer- 


304  GEORGE  III,  [1815 

ican  ships,  and  seizing  any  British  seamen  they  found  on 
board.  As  British  and  American  seamen  looked  much 
aHke,  many  Americans  were  seized,  and  much  irritation 
was  aroused.  The  war  broke  out  in  18 12,  and  lasted  till 
1 8 14,  when  it  was  concluded  by  a  treaty  made  at  Ghent. 
The  principal  result  of  the  war  for  America  was  the  loss 
of  the  fishery  rights  the  Americans  enjoyed  under  the 
treaty  of  1783.  As  for  England,  the  war  diverted 
resources  soon  to  be  sorely  needed  elsewhere. 

The  allies  did  not  get  on  very  smoothly  in  their  dis- 
cussions at  Vienna,  nor  did  Louis  XVIII.  win  the  good 
Napo-  will  of  the  French  people.  In  March,  18 15, 
return  Napolcou  landed  on  the  southern  coast  of 
(1815).  France.  All  the  troops  sent  to  oppose  him 
went  over  to  his  side,  and  he  reached  Paris  without 
any  trouble,  and  once  more  ruled  France  as  Emperor. 
The  allies  dissolved  the  Congress,  and  determined  to 
crush  Napoleon  at  once,  before  he  could  consolidate 
his  power. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  (the  "  Iron  Duke,"  as  his 
soldiers  called  him)  took  command  of  the  English  and 
Belgians  in  Belgium,  while  a  strong  Prussian  army  under 
Marshal  Bliicher  marched  to  his  aid.  The  Russians  and 
Austrians  entered  France  from  the  east.  Napoleon 
determined  to  attack  Wellington  and  Bliicher  before 
they  could    unite.      He  defeated  the    Prussians 

Waterloo,  "^ 

juneiSth,  at  Liguy,  and  then  marched  to  Waterloo,  and 
'  ^^'  attacked  Wellington  on  June  1 8th,  181 5.  For 
hours  the  English  maintained  their  ground,  even  after 
the  Belgians  had  fled.  At  length,  in  the  early  evening, 
the  Prussians  appeared.  They  attacked  the  French  with 
vigor,  and  in  a  short  time  all  was  over.  Napoleon  fled 
to   Paris;    thence  to  the  seaboard,   where   he   tried  to 


i8i9]  COxMMERCIAL  DEPRESSION.  305 

embark  for  America.  That  plan  failing,  he  surrendered 
himself  to  the  English.  To  their  keeping  he  was  con- 
fided by  Europe.  For  six  years,  till  his  death,  in  182 1, 
he  lived  on  the  island  of  St.  Helena,  strictly  guarded. 

The  next  five  years  were  marked  by  great  distress 
and  suffering  in  England.     During  the  war  Englishmen 
had  been  obliged  to  rely  upon  England  alone        . 
for   food.      The   price    of  meat   doubled,    and   turai 
that  of  breadstuffs   increased   threefold.      This 
great  rise  led  to  undue  extension  of  grain-raising,  and 
to    a   great    rise    of    rents.      At   the    return   of  peace 
prices  of  breadstuffs  fell  nearly  one-half     Great  num- 
bers of*  farmers  were  ruined.      The  demand   for  labor 
in    the  fields  declined,   and  there  was   great   suffering 
throughout  the  farming   districts.      The    land-   comLaw 
owners  were  represented    in    Parliament,   how-   °^  ^^^5- 
ever,  and  a  law  was  passed  forbidding  the  importation 
of  wheat  till  the   price  of  English   grown   wheat   had 
reached  a  high   figure.     This  helped   the  farmers,  but 
increased  the  distress  of  the  manufacturing  population. 

During  the  years  of  war  great  inventions  were  made  in 
the  arts,  and  steam  began  to  be  used  to  drive  machinery 
in  large  factories.  Manufacturing  by  hand  was  still 
practised,  and  the  hand-workers  saw  with  dismay  a 
machine  set  going  in  their  neighborhood,  capable  of 
making  as  much  in  one  day  as  all  the  workers  of  ^^^^ 
the  village  could  make  in  a  month.  The  working-   ciai  de- 

111  11  -11  pression. 

men    thought    the    trouble  was  with   the    new 
inventions,   and    bands  of  them    went   about   breaking 
machinery.     They  were  called  Luddites,  from  a   The 
crazy  lad,  John  Ludd,  who  set  the  evil  example.    Luddites. 
The  working-men  now  fell  under  the  influence  of  agita- 
tors.    In   1 8 16  a  meeting  was  held  on  Spa  Fields,  in 


306  GEORGE  111.  [iStg- 

London,  to  bring  about  the  seizure  of  London  Tower, 
then,  and  now,  used  as  a  storehouse  for  arms.  Other 
meetings  followed,  and  the  Government  on  its  part 
adopted  very  severe  measures  to  prevent  disturbances. 


GEORGE   III.   IN   OLD   AGE  :     FROM   TURNER'S   MEZZOTINT. 

The  most  famous  of  these  meetings  was  held  at  Man- 
chester in  1819.  The  people  assembled  to  listen  to 
The  Man-  Mr.  *' Orator "  Hunt,  a  popular  speaker.  The 
Massacre  authorities  of  the  town  ordered  the  officers  to 
(1819).  arrest  him  while  speaking.  Some  militiamen 
were  sent  to  help  the  officers.  The  crowd  was  so  great 
that  these  few  men  could  do  nothing.     Now  thoroughly 


i820.]  THE  REGENCY.  307 

alarmed,  the  magistrates  ordered  a  body  of  cavalry  to 
disperse  the  mob.  The  cavalry  charged  with  drawn 
sabres,  striking  right  and  left.  The  crowd  became 
panic-stricken,  and  a  terrible  scene  resulted.  The  meet- 
ing was  held  on  St.  Peter's  Fields,  and  the  massacre  is 
known  as  the  "  Manchester  Massacre,"  or  '*  Peterloo." 
In  the  beginning  of  1820,  George  III.  died.  The 
Since  18 10  he  had  been  hopelessly  insane,  and  (^8^10-^^ 
for  the  last  few  years  he  had  been  blind  also.  ^^^°^" 
His  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  had  governed  for  him  as 
Prince  Regent ;   he  now  became  king  as  George  IV. 


OUTLINE. 

Fox  and  North  join  forces  and  gain  a  majority  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Fox's  India  Bill.  The  younger  Pitt  becomes  Prime 
Minister:  his  success  and  the  reasons  for  it;  the  end  of  his  first 
ministry. 

Revolutionary  France  makes  war  on  England.  Disorder  in  the 
Navy.     Nelson  and  naval  victories.     The  Nile,  Trafalgar. 

Ireland  and  the  Irish  ;  the  Volunteers,  the  United  Irishmen, 
the  Union,  Emmet's  Rebellion. 

Wellington's  Peninsular  Campaign;  Napoleon's  Russian  Ex- 
pedition and  fall,  his  return  and  overthrow  at  Waterloo;  War  of 
181 2  with  the  United  States. 

Economic  distress  after  the  war:  the  last  years  of  George  III. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  was  it  necessary  for  the  king  to  appoint  Fox  and  North 
to  office  ? 

2.  Who  were  Fox's  Martyrs?    Why  were  they  martyred.-* 

3.  Why  was  Pitt  opposed  to  the  French  Revolution  ? 

4.  Give  some  of  the  disabilities  of  the  Irish. 

5.  Give  the  principal  provisions  of  the  Irish  Act  of  Union. 


3o8  GEORGE  IV.  [1820. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

GEORGE   IV. 

1 820- 1 830. 

THE  Prince  Regent,  now  become  king,  was  the  last 
of  the  '*  Four  Georges,"  and  the  worst.  He 
seems  to  have  had  no  redeeming  quahty  either  as  man 
Queen  oi*  rulcr.  His  first  effort  as  king  was  to  get  rid 
Caroline.  ^^  j^j^  wife,  Caroline  of  Brunswick.  His  father 
had  compelled  him  to  marry  her  as  a  condition  of 
paying  his  debts.  Queen  Caroline  was  by  no  means 
a  high-minded  woman,  but  George  IV.  was  so  detested 
that  popular  sympathy  was  on  her  side.  A  Bill  of 
Pains  and  Penalties  to  divorce  the  queen  and  to  deprive 
her  of  her  rights  was  introduced  into  Parliament,  but 
popular  feeling  was  too  strong,  and  the  plan  was  aban- 
doned. Queen  Caroline  was  refused  her  proper  place 
at  the  coronation,  however,  and  died  of  a  broken  heart. 
In  1822  Lord  Castlereagh  died,  and  George  Canning 
again  became  Foreign  Secretary.  Castlereagh  had  sym- 
pathized with  the  despotic  attempts  of  the  European 
monarchs  to  revive  the  old  state  of  things  in  their  coun- 
tries, and  to  resist  all  future  attempts  at  revolution. 
Canning  was  liberal,  and  at  once  England's  foreign  pol- 
icy underwent  a  complete  change.  He  could  not  effect 
much  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  as  there  the  military 
power  of  the  kings  was  supreme.  No  sooner  would  a 
revolution  break  out  in  one  state  than  all  the  neighboring 


i828.]  WELLINGTON-PEEL  MINISTRY.  309 

kings  would  send  their  armies  and  put  the  rising  down. 
In  1820-25  the  Spanish  American  colonists,  in  com- 
mon with  the  people  of  the  mother-country,  rebelled. 
The  rising  in  Spain  was  put  down  by  France.  It  was 
then  decided  to  send  over  an  army  to  crush  the  rebellion 
in  the  colonies.  But  the  English  fleet  was  supreme  on 
the  water.  Canning  declared  that  Spain  might  put  down 
the  rebels  if  she  were  able,  but  that  neither  France  nor 
any  other  power  should  help  her.  England  and  the 
United  States  then  joined  in  declaring  to  the  world  that 
the  repressive  systems  then  employed  in  the  Old  World 
should  not  be  extended  to  America.  This,  with  other 
declarations,  forms  what  is  called  the  **  Monroe  Doc- 
trine." Of  course  England  was  glad  to  see  Spanish 
America  free,  as  in  this  way  new  markets  would  be 
open  to  her  commerce ;  but,  as  far  as  Canning,  at  least, 
was  concerned,  a  love  of  freedom  was  probably  the 
leading  motive  for  the  action  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment. 

In    1827  Lord   Liverpool  died,  and  Canning  became 
Prime    Minister.      The    Conservative    members   of  the 
ministry,  Wellington,  Lord   Chancellor   Eldon, 
Robert  Peel,  and  some  others,  at  once  resigned.    ton-Peei 
They  and  their  adherents  then  attacked  Canning   (1828- 
so  fiercely  that  he  was  unable  to  bear  the  strain,    '  "^°^* 
and  died.     For  a  few  months  his  friends  continued  in 
office,  and  then  the  Duke  of  Wellington  became  Prime 
Minister.     Robert  Peel,  however,  was  the  real  leader  in 
this  ministry,  which  lasted  till  1 830. 

George  Canning  was  Prime  Minister  for  only  a  few 
months;  but  his  ministry  none  the  less  marks  the 
downfall  of  the  repressive  system  forced  on  England 
by  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution.     From  1827 


310  GEORGE  IV.  [1827. 

dates  the  period  of  social  and  constitutional  reform 
which  has  lasted  to  our  own  time.  Curiously  enough, 
two  of  the  greatest  reforms  of  this  whole  epoch  are 
associated  with  Wellington  and  Peel,  the  leaders  of  the 
conservative  Tories.     In  his  earlier  years  Peel  had  been 


CANNING  i     FROM   STEWARDSON  S   PORTRAIT., 

Secretary  for  Ireland.  He  had  introduced  the  con- 
stabulary, or  rural  police,  and  had  so  energetically  up- 
held the  rights  of  the  Protestants  as  to  earn  the  title  of 
"  Orange  Peel."  There  was  in  Ireland  a  leader  named 
Daniel  O'Connell,  a  lawyer,  a  few  years  older  than  Peel. 
Under  his  guidance  was  formed  a  society  called  the 
Catholic  Association.  Before  long  the  Association  be- 
came in  some  parts  of  Ireland  more  powerful  than  the 


1829.]  CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION.  31I 

English  Government ;  and  at  a  time  when  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  collect  the  church  tax,  the  Association 
collected  what  was  called  the  Catholic  rent,  or  annual 
contribution  to  carry  on  the  agitation  for  Catholic  relief. 
Canning  favored  the  Catholic  claims,  and  carried  a  bill 
for  their  relief  through  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
was  thrown  out  by  the  Lords.  At  the  same  time  a 
law  was  passed  suppressing  the  Catholic  Association. 
O'Connell  obeyed  the  law,  while  carrying  on  the  organi- 
zation by  other  means. 

In  1828  O'Connell  discovered  a  new  way  of  showing 
the  Catholic  power.  In  Ireland  all  freeholders,  or 
leaseholders  for  a  long  term  of  years,  to  the  extent 
of  two  pounds,  or  forty  shillings,  could  vote  for 
Members  of  Parliament.     It  so  happened  that  ^  .  ,. 

'^  ^  Catholic 

the    landlords    in    some    parts    of  Ireland    had  Emandpa- 

broken  up  their  estates  into  forty-shilling  "  free- 
holds," to  increase  their  political  influence.  O'Connell 
now  took  advantage  of  this,  and  caused  himself  to  be 
elected  to  Parliament  for  County  Clare.  Of  course  he 
could  not  take  his  seat;  but  the  power  of  the  great 
agitator  was  apparent.  Thirty  thousand  Irish  peasants 
assembled  at  Ennis.  Not  a  disturbance  of  any  kind 
occurred,  and  the  only  drunken  man  in  the  place  was 
O'Connell's  coachman,  who  happened  to  be  an  English 
Protestant.  This  meeting  convinced  both  Wellington 
and  Peel  that  something  must  be  done;  and  in  1829 
the  Catholic  Relief  Act  was  passed.  By  it  Catholics 
might  sit  in  Parliament  on  taking  an  oath  to  support  the 
state  and  not  to  injure  the  Established  Church.  The  first 
Catholic  to  enter  Parliament  was  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
premier  peer  of  England,  whose  family  name  of  Howard 
recalls  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  and  so  much  that  is 


312  GEORGE  IV.  i^3o.] 

memorable  in  English  history.  Just  before  this  Act  was 
passed,  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  Protestant  Dissenters  had 
become  law,  so  that  now  all  Christian  subjects  of  the 
English  Crown  residing  in  the  United  Kingdom  enjoyed 
equal  civil  rights,  except  in  a  very  few  trifling  instances. 
At  the  same  time  the  Irish  franchise  was  raised  from 
forty  shillings,  or  two  pounds,  to  ten  pounds.  Thus  at 
the  very  time  the  Catholics  were  admitted  to  Parliament, 
the  right  to  vote  was  taken  away  from  the  great  mass 
of  Catholics  in  Ireland.  The  next  year  George  IV.  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Duke  of  Clarence,  as 
William  IV. 

OUTLINE. 

The  Prince  Regent  becomes  king  as  George  IV.  George  Can- 
ning and  a  liberal  policy.  Daniel  O'Connell  forms  the  Catholic 
Association  in  Ireland,  and  secures  Catholic  Emancipation  from 
Wellington  and  Peel. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  What  change  in  British  policy  did  the  death  of  Castlereagh 
lead  to  ? 

2.  Find  out  all  you  can  about  Daniel  O'Connell:  why  did  he 
have  so  great  an  influence  1 

3.  How  much  did  the  Roman  Catholics  gain  by  the  legislation 
of  1828.? 


1830.]  CAUSES   OF  DISCONTENT.  313 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

WILLIAM    IV. 

1830-1837. 

\  1^ /"ILLIAM  IV.  had  been  brought  up  In  the  navy. 
V  V  He  resembled  the  bold,  bluff  admiral  of  the 
olden  time.  People  called  him  the  Sailor  King,  and 
trusted  and  liked  him.  It  was  fortunate  that  he  was  a 
popular  man,  with  a  good  deal  of  common  sense.  The  new 
though  he  had  little  of  good  breeding.  Eng-  '^'"^' 
land  was,  in  fact,  on  the  eve  of  a  great  revolution.  The 
movement  was  guided  wisely  and  well,  and  the  nation 
took  a  very  great  step  forward.  Had  an  attempt  been 
made  to  suppress  the  revolution,  no  one  knows  what 
might  have  happened. 

There  was  vast  discontent  and  misery.    Manufacturing 
towns  had  doubled  and  trebled  in  population  in  fifteen 
years,  yet  nothing  was  done  to  help  the  people 
who    increased   England's   material    prosperity,    ofdis- 
Parliament  was  in  the  hands  of  landowners,  who 
seemed  to  think  that  the  factory  hands  might  starve,  pro- 
vided the  price  of  English-grown  grain  were  maintained. 
It  was  felt  that  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  should 
be  more  fully  represented  in  Parliament,  and  there  fight 
for   the  good    of  their  working-people    and   of  them- 
selves.    The  condition  of  the  representation  in  Parlia- 
ment was,  to  an  American,  almost  incredible.     A  large 
and  prosperous  town  like  Birmingham  sent  no  member 


314 


WILLIAM   IV. 


[1830 


to  the  House  of  Commons,  while  a  ruined  mound  of 
earth  showing  where  Old  Sarum  once  stood,  but  now 
without  a  single  human  inhabitant,  sent  two  members. 
These  were  the  two  extremes.  But  places  whose  in- 
habitants could  be   counted  on  one's   fingers  sent  two 


OLD  SARUM  :    FROM  AN  FNGRAVING  PUBLISHED  IN   1843,    SHOWING 
MOUND.      (it    is    NOW   OBSCURED   BY   TREES    FROM 
THIS    POINT  OF   VIEW.) 

members  apiece,  while  great  centres  of  commercial  and 
manufacturing  life  were  not  represented  at  all.  Then, 
again,  in  towns  where  many  substantial  people  lived, 
only  a  very  few  could  vote.  In  other  places  all  the 
voters  were  tenants  of  some  great  landowner,  and  must 
vote  as  he  directed,  or  be  turned  out  of  their  farms. 
These  last  boroughs  were  called  *'  pocket  boroughs," 
and  some  great  noblemen  possessed  several  of  them. 
So  it  came  to  pass  that  a  majority  of  the  House  of 
Commons   was   returned    by   a   few   hundred   persons, 


1832.]  FIRST   REFORM   ACT.  315 

mostly  landowners ;  and  many  of  them  were  members 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  And  this  was  not  all ;  the  right 
to  sit  in  Parliament  was  a  great  honor,  and  many  a  rich 
man  was  willing  to  pay  a  large  sum  of  money  to  a 
borough  which  would  return  him  to  ParHament.  Some 
boroughs  habitually  sold  the  right  to  represent  them. 
The  nation,  awaking  to  the  fact  that  the  House  of 
Commons  no  longer  represented  England,  was  begin- 
ning to  demand  a  change.  While  public  feeling  was 
in  this  state,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  made  a  speech  to 
the  effect  that  the  English  constitution  was  perfection 
itself,  and  should  not  be  changed  at  all.  He  was  obliged 
to  resign,  and  the  Whigs,  after  nearly  fifty  years'  exclu- 
sion from  office,  took  control  of  the  government. 

Earl  Grey  was  the  new  Prime  Minister.  For  nqarly 
half  a  century  he  had  advocated  reform,  and  now  at  last, 
at  the  very  end  of  his  life,  he  was  to  bring  it  about.  First 
The  new  Lord  Chancellor  was  Henry  Brougham,  Act°"" 
who  was  even  more  radical  in  his  views  than  ('^32) 
Earl  Grey.  The  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons  was 
Lord  Althorp,  eldest  son  of  Earl  Spencer.  He  was  no 
speaker,  but  was  so  honest  and  upright  that  men  of  all 
parties  respected  and  trusted  him.  To  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, a  younger  son  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  held 
at  the  time  a  minor  office,  was  given  the  task  of  bring- 
ing in  the  reform  bill.  Lord  John  Russell  proposed 
to  disfranchise  the  smaller  boroughs,  giving  the  seats 
thus  gained  to  the  larger  towns  and  to  the  counties. 
He  also  proposed  to  make  the  voting  qualification 
more  uniform.  When  the  names  of  the  boroughs  to 
be  disfranchised  were  read,  the  members  of  those 
boroughs  broke  forth  into  shouts  of  loud  laughter. 
Lord  John  Russell  was  supported  by  Mr.  Thomas  Bab- 


3l6  WILLIAM  IV.  [1832. 

ington  Macaulay  (afterwards  Lord  Macaulay)  and  Mr. 
Stanley  (afterwards  Lord  Stanley,  and,  still  later.  Earl 
Derby).  Mr.  Macaulay's  speeches  best  show  in  many 
respects  the  arguments  for  reform.  The  Government 
was  soon  defeated  on  a  minor  point,  and  Parlia- 
ment was  dissolved.  The  new  election  was  marked 
by  much  rioting  and  disorder.  It  resulted  in  a  great 
majority  for  the  reformers.  Led  by  Sir  Robert  Peel, 
the  Opposition  opposed  the  second  reform  bill  by  all 
means  within  its  power.  It  finally  passed  the  Commons 
by  a  great  majority.  But  the  Lords  were  so  hostile  to 
reform  that,  foreseeing  the  defeat  of  the  bill,  Earl  Grey 
resigned.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Sir  Robert  Peel 
then  tried  to  form  a  ministry.  But  they  could  not  hope 
to  f^ce  the  great  reform  majority  in  the  Commons,  and 
Earl  Grey  returned  to  office,  but  only  on  one  condition ; 
namely,  that  the  king  should  create  enough  peers  to 
turn  the  hostile  majority  in  the  House  of  Lords  into  a 
majority  favorable  to  the  measure.  This  was  not  neces- 
sary, however;  for  when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  became 
convinced  of  the  earnestness  of  the  king,  he  and  enough 
other  hostile  peers  left  the  House,  and  allowed  the  third 
reform  bill,  which  had  meantime  been  passed  by  the 
Commons,  to  pass  the  Lords  also. 

In   this  way   the    Reform   Act   of   1832  —  the    First 

Reform  Act  —  became  law.     The  Revolution   of  1688 

had  transferred  power  from  the  Crown  to  the 

First  aristocracy.  The  Reform  Act  of  1832  trans- 
Reform         -.  ,  r  1  •  1  •  1  11 

Act  ferred  power  from  the  aristocracy  to  the  middle 

^^         class,    as    it    is    called    in    England,    consisting 

mainly  of  merchants  and  manufacturers. 

In   1833  the  first  Reformed  Parliament  met,  and  for 

the   next   few  years    reform    after   reform   was    accom- 


1833.]  THE  FACTORY  ACT.  317 

plished.  For  centuries  there  had  been  no  system  of 
slavery  in  Great  Britain.  Slavery  in  its  harshest  forms 
still  continued  in  some  of  the  colonies;  but  up  to  1833 
the  capitalists  interested  in  its  maintenance  had  pre- 
vented abolition.     This  was  now  decreed ;   but   ^ 

Emanci- 

the  emancipation  was  to  extend  over  several  pation  of 
years,  and  the  Government  agreed  to  pay  the 
slave-owners  nearly  one  hundred  million  dollars  as  com- 
pensation. Sir  Fowell  Buxton  carried  the  final  measure 
through  the  Commons,  the  chief  English  abolitionists 
having  been  Thomas  Clarkson  and  William  Wilberforce. 
The  latter  died  just  before  the  bill  abolishing  slavery 
became  law,  though  not  before  the  success  of  his  life- 
work  was  assured. 

While  doing  so  much  for  the  laborers  in  the  colonies, 
Parliament  could  hardly  refuse  to  do  something  for  the 
laborers  at  home.  In  fact,  the  condition  of  an  English 
factory  operative  was  scarcely  better  than  that  of  a 
West  India  slave.  In  1833  a  Factory  Act  was  xhe  Fac- 
passed,  mainly  through  the  persistent  efforts  to'^y  Act. 
of  Lord  Ashley.  After  this  no  woman  could  legally  be 
employed  in  a  factory  more  than  twelve  hours  a  day ; 
no  person  under  eighteen  years  of  age  more  than  twelve 
hours ;  no  person  under  thirteen  more  than  eight  hours ; 
and  very  young  children  could  not  be  employed  at  all. 
In  1847  the  hours  of  all  persons  under  eighteen  were 
still  further  reduced  to  ten  hours. 

In  1834  the  king,  without  any  valid  reason,  dismissed 
Lord  Melbourne,  who  had  taken  Earl  Grey's  peei- 
place  at  the  head  of  the  Reform  Ministry;  and  tJ^"'"^' 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  ^/g"j^tjy 
tried  to  form  a  ministry.  In  this  ministry  Mr.  '835). 
Gladstone  first  appears.  A  general  election  was  held  in 
1835,  and  Peel  issued  a  sort  of  party  platform.     It  was 


3i8 


WILLIAM   IV. 


ri837. 


called  the  Tamworth  Manifesto,  because  it  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  electors  of  Tamworth,  which  place  Peel 
Second  represented  in  Parliament.  In  this  he  accepted 
Melbourne  the   Reform   Act  as  passed.     But   the   Liberals 

ministry  ^ 

(1835-       were    nevertheless    successful,    and    Lord    Mel- 
bourne again  became  Prime  Minister.     In  1837 
William  IV.  died,  and  his  niece  Victoria  became  Queen. 


OUTLINE. 

George  IV. 's  brother  William  (IV.)  becomes  king.  Great  mis- 
ery and  discontent  in  the  country.  Condition  of  the  representa- 
tive system.  The  Reform  Act  of  1832.  Emancipation  of  negro 
slaves  in  the  English  colonies.  Reform  in  industrial  -system  in 
England. 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Why  are  the  years  immediately  after  1827  called  the  Epoch 
of  Reform  ? 

2.  Give  some  idea  of  the  representative  system  before  1832  and 
after  1832, 

3.  How  was  slave  emancipation  brought  about  in  the  English 
colonies .? 

4.  Compare  the  hours  of  labor  in  factories  with  those  in  your 
State  at  the  present  time. 


ROYAL  ARMS  IN  THE  EARLY  PART  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  :    THE  HANOVERIAN 
SCUTCHEON,  SURMOUNTED  BY  AN  ELECTORAL  BONNET- 


1837.J  Victoria.  319 

CHAPTER   XXXVI 11. 

VICTORIA. 

1837-1901. 
Part  I.     1837-1865. 

QUEEN  VICTORIA  was  a  young  woman  of  eighteen 
when  she  became  queen,  in  1837.  She  had  been 
carefully  brought  up  by  her  mother,  and  soon  won  the 
hearts  of  Englishmen  by  her  dignity  and  good  sense. 
In  1840  she  married  Albert  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 
But  he  was  never  crowned  as  king  consort,  and  was 
called  simply  the  "  Prince  Consort"  to  his  death.  Lord 
Melbourne  continued  Prime  Minister,  and  for  a  time 
the  change  of  sovereigns  made  little  or  no  difference  in 
England's  policy.  In  fact,  affairs  were  now  in  a  satis- 
factory condition  in  Great  Britain.  But  in  Ireland, 
Canada,  and  Jamaica  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the 
Government  was  the  rule. 

The  Melbourne  Government  seems  to  have  tried  to 
govern  Ireland  fairly.  Indeed,  this  was  necessarily  so, 
as  it  was  obliged  to  rely  on  the  votes  of  the  Irish  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons.  An  under-officer  of 
the  Government  even  went  so  far  as  to  tell  a  delegation 
of  Irish  landlords  that  "  property  has  its  duties  as  well 
as  its  rights," —  a  proposition  which  quite  astonished 
the  Irish  landowners.  But  the  landlords  were  so  strong 
in  the  House  of  Peers  that  the  ministry  was  able  to  do 
very  little  for  the  Irish. 

In  Canada  there  was  open  rebellion.  The  French 
and  English  colonists  did  not  get  on  well  together,  and 


3^0 


QUEEN    VICTORIA. 


l>83? 


QUEEN    VICTORIA,   AT    HER   ACCESSION  :    ENGRAVED   BY   THOMPSON 
AFTER  A   PORTRAIT  BY   LANE. 


1840.]  Canada  act.  321 

the  English  settlers  themselves  did  not  like  being 
governed  by  England.  The  Canadian  Constitu-  Canada 
tion  was  suspended,  and  Lord  Durham  was  sent  ^'^*^^^'^°^' 
over  as  High  Commissioner,  or  dictator,  as  he  might 
well  have  been  styled.  He  acted  so  despotically  that 
popular  feeling  was  strongly  against  him,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  return  home.  In  the  end  Parliament  passed 
an  Act  uniting  the  two  Canadas,  and  giving  the  colonists 
control  of  their  local  affairs.  In  1867  a  confederation 
of  all  the  British  North  American  colonies  was  set  on 
foot.  The  new  constitution  resembles  in  some  par- 
ticulars that  of  England,  and,  in  more  particulars,  that 
of  the  United  States.  Canada  now  has  almost  complete 
control  of  its  own  internal  affairs,  though  the  direction 
of  diplomatic  relations  is  retained  by  England.  It 
should  be  remembered,  however,  that  Parliament  still 
has  the  substantial  control  of  Canada  in  its  own  hands, 
and  by  merely  passing  an  Act  can  any  day  alter  this 
whole  arrangement.  All  the  British  North  American 
colonies,  save  Newfoundland,  now  belong  to  this 
confederation. 

The  trouble  in  Jamaica  grew  out  of  the  scheme  for 
gradual  emancipation.  While  the  planters  owned  their 
slaves  it  was  in  general  good  policy  to  treat  their 
dependents  fairly  well,  and  thus  prolong  the  period 
of  their  usefulness.  Now,  however,  when  the  planter 
would  lose  his  slaves'  services  at  the  end  of  a  few  years, 
he  was  naturally  tempted  to  get  as  much  work  out  of 
them  as  he  could  while  they  were  yet  his.  The  Jamaica 
planters  in  particular  treated  their  slaves  with  great 
harshness.  The  English  Government  acted  somewhat 
hastily  in  the  matter,  and  these  planters  refused  to  pass 
any  laws  in  their  colonial  assembly  till  their  demands 


3^2  VICTORIA.  [1841. 

should  be  complied  with.  A  bill  to  compel  the  Jamaica 
colonists  to  submission  was  introduced  into  the  Com- 
mons. The  Opposition  saw  the  opportunity,  and  de- 
feated the  Government,  upon  which  the  Melbourne 
ministry  resigned. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington  now 
formed  a  ministry.  It  so  happened  that  the  ladies  in 
The  Bed-  attendance  upon  the  queen  were  the  wives, 
que^stio^  sistcrs,  daughters,  aunts,  cousins,  or  friends  of 
(^^39).  the  Melbourne  ministers.  The  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington said  that,  as  he  had  no  small-talk,  and  Peel  had 
no  manners,  it  was  necessary  to  have  some  ladies  about 
the  queen  to  explain  the  plans  of  the  Government.  Sir 
Robert  Peel  accordingly  wrote  to  her  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  change  some  of  the  chief  ladies  of  her 
household.  The  queen,  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of 
having  to  surround  herself  with  strangers,  refused,  and 
the  Melbourne  ministry  returned.  But  they  had  a 
majority  no  larger  than  before,  and  were  sneered  at 
as  "  hiding  behind  the  ladies-in-waiting."  However, 
they  struggled  on  till  1841,  when  there  was  a  general 
election.  Lord  Melbourne  proposed  to  reform  some 
of  the  trade  laws.  He  was  opposed  by  Peel  on  this 
issue,  and,  when  Parliament  met,  Peel  had  the  majority 
and  became  Prime  Minister. 

Two  great  questions  occupied  Sir  Robert  Peel's  atten- 
tion during  his  administration.  The  first  was  the  ever- 
present  trouble  in  Ireland,  which  will  be  best 
Peel's  considered  later.  The  second  was  the  over- 
(1841-  turning  of  England's  long-cherished  financial 
^  ^  policy.       During    the    wars    with    France    the 

manufacturing  industry  in  England  had  received  a  great 
impetus,  which  carried  it  safely  over  the  dull  period 


1841.]  SIR   ROBERT  PEEL'S   MINISTRY.  323 

after  Waterloo.  The  opening  of  the  ports  of  South  and 
Central  America  gave  England's  commerce  new  life. 
It  now  became  evident  to  several  men  skilled  in  think- 
ing on  such  subjects  that,  however  it  might  be  with 
other  nations,  the  protective  system  was  no  longer  suited 
to  England.  Mr.  Huskisson  was  the  leader  of  this  new 
school,  and  he  set  on  foot  a  revolution  in  England's 
commercial  policy.  As  a  member  of  Canning's  minis- 
try he  opened  the  British  ports  to  ships  of  such  coun- 
tries as  would  open  their  ports  to  British  vessels.  He 
also  lowered  the  duty  on  several  raw  materials, —  wool 
and  silk,  for  instance ;  and  this  made  it  easier  for  British 
manufacturers  to  compete  with  those  of  other  countries. 
It  was  impossible  to  repeal  the  duty  on  breadstuffs,  but 
a  scheme  was  proposed  by  which  they  might  be  im- 
ported when  the  price  was  high  in  England.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington,  however,  would  not  hear  of  such 
legislation,  and  it  accordingly  fell  through.  But  not 
long  afterwards  the  Duke  of  Wellington  himself  was 
obliged  to  carry  through  just  such  a  law,  and  this  was 
in  force  in  1841.  Sir  Robert  Peel  had  won,  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1 84 1,  as  the  leader  of  the  Protectionists.  But 
he  himself  was  in  no  sense  a  Protectionist.  His  mind 
worked  slowly,  and  he  had  a  habit  of  waiting  to  see 
which  way  the  country  was  going  before  he  fully 
decided  on  his  course.  Before  long  he  became  con- 
vinced that  if  England  was  to  become  a  great  manu- 
facturing country,  the  tariff  must  be  revised,  and  as 
many  articles  as  possible  added  to  the  free  list.  In 
five  years  the  duties  on  raw  materials  used  in  the  arts 
were  either  entirely  repealed  or  greatly  reduced.  The 
most  notable  instance,  perhaps,  was  the  abolition  of  the 
duty  on  cotton, —  a  product  almost  entirely  importecJ 


324  VICTORIA.  [1845. 

from  America.  This  duty  amounted  to  680,000  pounds 
sterling,  or  over  three  milHons  of  dollars.  A  great 
The  In-  deficit  was  thus  created  in  the  revenue ;  but 
come  Tax.  ^.j^jg  ^^g  made  good  by  a  tax  on  incomes  of 
so  many  pence  in  the  pound. 

While  Peel  was  thus  reducing  the  taxes  on  the  manu- 
facturers' supplies,  the  manufacturers  themselves  were 
agitating  for  a  repeal  of  the  taxes  on  breadstuffs. 
Corn-Law  The  leaders  in  this  agitation  were  Richard  Cob- 
eague.  ^^^  ^^^  John  Bright.  John  Bright  was  one  of 
the  greatest  orators  of  the  time,  and  Richard  Cobden 
had  a  remarkable  power  of  explaining  intricate  details  of 
trade  to  popular  audiences ;  so  that  together  they  exer- 
cised an  irresistible  influence.  A  great  association,  called 
the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  was  established.  Pamphlets 
were  distributed  broadcast,  and  Bright  and  Cobden,  trav- 
elling from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other,  soon 
aroused  a  tremendous  interest  in  the  subject  of  free  trade 
in  grain.  The  working-people  deserted  their  usual  lead- 
ers, and  money  poured  in  from  all  sides  to  aid  the  new 
crusade.  This  demonstration  was  the  one  thing  needed 
to  hasten  Peel's  mental  processes.  The  argument  of 
the  agitators  was  something  like  this.  English  manufac- 
turers possessed  cheaper  coal  and  iron  than  any  other 
manufacturers.  Under  the  new  laws  other  raw  materials 
would  be  as  cheap  to  them  as  to  their  competitors. 
One  thing  alone  was  dear,  and  that  was  labor.  Labor 
was  dear  because  the  workers  must  have  good  wages 
wherewith  to  buy  the  high-priced  English-grown  grain, 
or  starve.  Now,  if  they  could  be  permitted  to  buy 
cheap  grain, —  imported  from  America,  for  example, — 
they  would  be  equally  well  off  with  much  lower  wages. 
Finally,   if  the   English   manufacturer  could  get  labor 


1845]  PEEL  AND   DISRAELI. 


:>-:) 


at  a  low  rate,  he  could  undersell  all  his  rivals,  manu- 
facture for  the  world,  and  give  steady  work  to  all. 
Therefore  the  Corn  Laws  should  be  repealed.  It  so 
happened  that  at  the  precise  moment  when  Feel,  under 
the  pressure  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  was  coming 
to  this  conclusion,  an  event  occurred  which  made  at 
least  a  temporary  suspension  of  those  laws  a  necessity. 
This  event  was  the  famine  in  Ireland. 

The  people  of  Ireland  lived  principally  on  potatoes. 
Grain  was  grown  in  Ireland,  but  it  was  sold  to  England, 
and  the  proceeds  were  used  to  pay  the  rent  due  The  Irish 
from  the  farmers  to  their  landlords;  almost  [*J^"! 
none  of  it  was  consumed  by  the  Irish  people.  ^^49)- 
They  lived  on  potatoes,  and  they  did  this  because  that 
was  the  cheapest  food.  In  1844-45  ^  disease,  or 
blight,  called  the  potato  rot,  swept  over  western 
Europe.  In  England  and  Scotland  it  did  not  matter 
so  very  much,  but  in  Ireland  in  a  few  months  the  food 
supply  of  millions  of  men,  women,  and  children  was 
destroyed.  It  was  now  absolutely  necessary,  if  the 
Irish,  and  even  the  English,  poor  were  to  live,  that  the 
Corn  Laws  should  be  at  least  suspended.  Peel  saw  that 
if  they  were  once  suspended  they  could  never  be  re-im- 
posed, and  he  therefore  proposed  their  total  repeal. 

Now  Peel's  supporters  were  mainly  landowners ;  and 
to  many  of  them  his  conduct  seemed  simply  treason- 
able. Among  the  younger  men  of  the  Conservative 
party  was  Benjamin  Disraeli.  He  had  begun  life  as  an 
extreme  Liberal,  or  Radical ;  but  now  he  was  a  Conser- 
vative of  an  extreme  type.  Up  to  1845  his  career  as  a 
politician  had  not  been  remarkable,  but  he  now  saw 
that  his  opportunity  had  come.  Placing  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  discontented  landowners  and  other  beliqv- 


326  VICTORIA.  [1845. 

ers  in  "  protection,"  he  attacked  Sir  Robert  in  Parlia- 
ment with  all  the  venom  and  energy  of  a  venomous  and 
energetic  nature.  He  called  the  Government  "  an 
organized  hypocrisy,"  and  clamored  for  "  vengeance  on 


SIR    ROBERT   PEEL  ;     FROM   THE    BUST    BY   NOBLE   IN   THE 
NATIONAL   PORTRAIT   GALLERY. 

the  betrayer."  Another  convert  to  the  Conservative 
party  was  Lord  Stanley,  who,  as  a  Liberal,  had  been 
one  of  the  Reform  ministry.  In  the  earlier  days  of 
Peel's  own  ministry  Lord  Stanley  had  sat  in  the  cabinet. 
He  now  found  himself  leading  the  attack  on  Peel's 
policy  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Disraeli's  vengeance 
was  not  long  delayed.  Among  other  measures,  Peel 
had  brought  forward  a  Coercion  Bill  for  Ireland.     Jh? 


1S49]  LORD  JOHN   RUSSELL'S  MINISTRY.  327 

Protectionists  and  Liberals  joined  hands,  and,  on  the 
very  day  when  the  bill  to  repeal  the  Corn  Laws  passed 
the  House  of  Peers,  Peel  resigned. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  never  again  held  office.  But  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life  he  helped  Lord  John  Russell 
and  the  Liberals  carry  out  the  policy  he  had  begun. 
As  a  political  leader  and  financier,  no  modern  English- 
man stands  higher  than  he.  He  had  also  the  highest 
element  of  true  statesmanship, —  the  ability  to  sub- 
ordinate one's  former  convictions  to  the  necessities  of 
the  time.  Peel  left  behind  him  a  devoted  band  of  dis- 
ciples,—  the  Peelites,  as  they  were  called.  The  most 
notable  of  them  was  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  who, 
even  at  that  time,  had  a  seat  in  the  cabinet. 

The  famine  in  Ireland  continued  till  1849.  ^^  ^847 
•*  soup  kitchens "  were  opened  in  the  worst  districts, 
and  English  writers  claim  that  after  their  establishment 
no  one  died  from  actual  starvation.     But  with  ^     ,,  ^ 

Lord  John 

the  famine  came  a  dreadful  fever ;   and  diseases  Russell's 

,  r        1  •  -11  1        ,      .       ministry 

not  always  fatal  now  mvariably  resulted  m  (1846- 
death.  "The  people,"  to  use  the  words  of  '  ^^^* 
Mr.  Stuart  Trench,  "  died  on  the  roads,  and  they  died 
in  the  fields;  they  died  on  the  mountains,  and  they 
died  in  the  glens;  they  died  at  the  relief  works,  and 
they  died  in  their  houses, —  so  that  little  streets  or  villages 
were  left  almost  without  an  inhabitant;  and  at  last  some 
few,  despairing  of  help  in  the  country,  crawled  into  the 
towns,  and  died  at  the  doors  of  residents."  How  many 
died  from  the  famine  will  never  be  known.  The  popu- 
lation of  Ireland  in  1841  was  over  eight  millions.  In 
1 85 1  it  was  but  six  and  one  half  millions, — over  one 
and  a  half  million  less.  As  a  great  many  children  must 
have  been  born  in  the  intervening  years,  more  than  one 


328  VICTORIA.  [1848. 

and  a  half  million  men,  women,  and  children  must  have 
perished  in  those  years  or  have  emigrated. 

During  the  years  following  the  passage  of  the  Catholic 
Relief  Act  a  party  of  young  and  enthusiastic  Irishmen 
"Young  had  been  gradually  supplanting  O'Connell.  In 
Ireland."     jg^^,  ^^  ^j^^j^  ^^^  ^^^  p^j.^.^  ^f  u  Young  Ireland  " 

carried  on  and  extended  the  agitation  he  had  begun. 
They  established  a  paper,  called  the  *'  Nation,"  at  Dublin, 
and  openly  advocated  separation  from  England  as  the 
only  cure  for  Ireland's  ills.  Nor  were  they  averse  to 
armed  resistance  In  1848  a  rising  came,  and  proved 
a  complete  failure.  Famine  and  unsuccessful  rebellion 
brought  only  misery  to  Ireland.  Many  landlords  seized 
the  opportunity,  and  turned  the  tenants  out  of  their 
farms   by  the  wholesale.      Entire  estates  were 

Ine  ' 

"clear-       cleared   of  their  former   occupants   in   a  week. 

Anc6s  '^ 

This  was  done,  the  landlords  said,  that  a  new 
and  better  class  of  laborers  might  be  introduced.  Thou- 
sands of  Irishmen,  with  their  families,  sought  a  new  home 
in  America.  In  their  emigration  they  were  often  assis- 
ted by  their  former  landlords  and  by  people  in  England, 
who  seemed  to  think  that  partial  depopulation,  and  not 
a  just  social  organization,  was  the  remedy  for  Ireland's 
wretchedness. 

The  Irish  rebellion  was  not  the  only  rising  in  Europe 
in  1848.  In  fact,  there  were  so  many  rebellions  in  that 
year  that  it  is  still  often  mentioned  as  the  "  Year  of 
Revolutions."  In  England  there  was  no  actual  rebel- 
lion, but  the  radical  reformers  were  very  active.  They 
The  were  called  the  Chartists,  because  they  had  em- 

Chartists.  bodied  their  demands  in  a  document  called 
**  The  People's  Charter."  They  demanded  equal  elec- 
toral districts,  vote  by  ballot,  annual  elections,  universal 


LONGMANS,  GREEN  *  COv,  NEW  YORK 


1848.]  THE  CHARTISTS.  329 

manhood  suffrage,  a  repeal  of  the  property  qualification 
for  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  members.  To  an  American  these  things  seem 
reasonable  enough ;  but  to  Englishmen  thirty  and  forty 
years. ago  they  portended  anarchy.  The  Chartists  pre- 
sented petition  after  petition,  —  the  largest  in  1848.  It 
was  to  have  been  carried  to  Parliament  at  the  head  of 
an  enormous  procession;  but  the  Government  refused 
to  allow  any  such  body  to  march.  One  hundred  and 
seventy  thousand  citizens  of  London  enlisted  as  special 
constables,  and  soldiers  and  artillery  were  placed  to 
command  the  principal  streets  and  bridges.  The  whole 
demonstration  turned  out  a  complete  failure.  More- 
over, when  the  Government  clerks  counted  the  names 
attached  to  the  petition,  they  found  that  there  were,  not 
five  millions,  as  the  Chartists  claimed,  but  only  two 
millions.  Worse  yet,  many  signatures  were  forgeries, 
as  "  the  Queen,"  '*  Duke  of  Wellington,"  "  Peel,"  etc. ; 
while  others,  like  "  Pugnose  "  and  "  No  Cheese,"  were 
plainly  written  for  the  purpose  of  filling  as  much  paper 
as  possible.  Since  then,  however,  many  of  these  de- 
mands of  the  Chartists  have  been  granted. 

The  principal  man  in  Lord  John  Russell's  ministry 
was  Lord  Palmerston,  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs.  Lord  Palmerston  thought  he  knew  more  about 
foreign  affairs  than  any  one  else,  and  did  many  things 
without  telling  the  queen,  or  even  his  fellow  ministers. 
Now,  it  happened  that  the  queen  and  her  husband  — 
both  Germans  by  extraction  —  took  a  great  interest  in 
German  politics.  They  felt  that  Lord  Palmerston  did 
not  treat  them  with  due  respect,  and  the  queen  wrote 
to  that  effect  to  Lord  John  Russell.  The  next  year, 
1 85 1,   Prince    Louis  Napoleon,    nephew   of  the    great 


330  VICTORIA.  [1852. 

Napoleon,  seized  the  Government  of  France.  Lord 
Palmerston  distrusted  the  French  people,  and  felt  a 
good  deal  of  contempt  for  them.  In  an  off-hand  way 
he  told  the  French  minister  at  London  that  Napoleon 
had  done  right.  As  Palmerston  had  not  even  asked 
the  Prime  Minister  what  he  thought  about  it.  Lord 
John  Russell  was  furious,  and  Palmerston  was  dismissed. 
Soon  after,  he  and  his  personal  friends,  joining 
missal        the  Opposition  for  the  moment,  defeated  Lord 

of  Lord         T    ,         V:  ,, 

Palmer-      John    Russell    on   an   unimportant   matter,   and 
compelled  his  resignation.     Lord  Stanley,  now 
Earl  Derby,  became  Prime  Minister,  with   Mr.  Disraeli 
as  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

Two  other  events  connected  with  the  Russell  ministry 

deserve  mention.     The  first  is  the  entire  repeal  of  the 

,    ^        Navip-ation  Laws,  in    1849,  and  the   opening^  of 

The  first  ^        .  .  ^  .    ... 

Derby        the  first  international  exhibition  in   the  Crystal 
Palace,  in  Hyde  Park,  London,  in   185 1.     This 

last  was  a  great  success  in  every  way.     The  surplus  was 

used  to  found  the  South  Kensington  Museum  for  the 

advancement  of  art. 

In  November,    1852,   Parliament  came  together,  and 

the  opponents  of  the  Derby-Disraeli   ministry  were  in 
the  majority.     That  ministry  resigned,  and,  the 

Aberdeen    Peelitcs  joining  the  Liberals,  a  coalition   minis- 
try was  formed,  with  Lord  Aberdeen  as  Prime 

Minister.     Ever  since  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  the 

Czars  of  Russia  had  cast  longing  eyes  on  Constantinople 
,  and  the  provinces  of  Turkey  in  Europe.     Nich- 

Crimean     olas  was  now  Czar,  and  he  thought  the  time  to 

War 

(1854-       seize    Constantinople    had    arrived.     He  spoke 

of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  as  ''the  sick  man  of 

Europe,"  and  actually  proposed  to  divide  his  territo- 


I8S7.]  THE  SEPOY  MUTINY.  33  I 

ries  with  England.  But  England  was  jealous  of  Russia, 
and  when  Nicholas  attempted  to  conquer  Turkey,  Eng- 
land and  France  joined  forces  with  the  Turks,  and 
soon  drove  the  Russians  back.  The  war  then  took  the 
form  of  a  siege  of  Sebastopol, —  a  great  fortress  and 
naval  station  on  the  Crimea,  as  the  peninsula  reaching 
out  into  the  eastern  end  of  the  Black  Sea  is  called. 
During  the  winter  of  1854-55  the  English  troops  suf- 
fered terribly  from  cold  and  lack  of  suitable  clothing, 
and  even  of  the  very  necessaries  of  life.  The  English 
people  declared  that  this  suffering  was  due  to  the  inca- 
pacity of  Lord  Aberdeen;  and  he  and  some  others 
opposed  to  the  war  resigned.  The  ministry  p^^^^^  ^ 
was    reconstructed,  with     Lord    Palmerston    as   ston 

ministry 

Prime  Minister.     The  war  was  now  carried  on    (1855- 
with  more  vigor,  and  great  reforms  were  made    ^  ^ 
in    the    condition    of  the    English    soldiers,    under  the 
leadership  of  a  woman,  Florence  Nightingale.     In   1855 
Sebastopol  was  surrendered,   and  early  in   1856  peace 
was  made  at  Paris. 

Scarcely  was  this  war  ended  when  a  terrible  rebellion 
occurred  in  India.  The  skill,  energy,  and  unprincipled 
extortion  of  Clive  and  Warren  Hastings  laid  aTheSepoy 
foundation  upon  which  later  governors  built  a  (,857"/ 
splendid  empire.  In  1856  England  ruled,  either  '^38). 
directly  or  through  subordinate  princes,  nearly  the 
whole  peninsula  of  India.  The  number  of  English 
soldiers  in  India  was  small.  The  expedient  of  employ- 
ing natives  as  soldiers,  and  teaching  them  to  use  Euro- 
pean arms,  had  been  adopted.  The  native  soldiers  in 
the  English  service  were  called  Sepoys. 

The  English  Government  of  India  endeavored  to  rule 
according  to  modem  ideas,  and  they  found  it  very  hard 


332  VICTORIA.  [1858, 

work.  Indian  society  was  founded  on  a  mass  of  castes, 
or  fixed  grades,  between  which  there  was  no  inter- 
minghng.  In  trying  to  simplify  the  collection  of  taxes, 
the  English,  perhaps  without  realizing  it,  gave  a  great 
blow  to  this  system.  The  good-will  of  the  upper  caste 
was  thus  lost,  and  the  suspicions  of  al]  the  natives 
were  aroused.  At  this  inopportune  moment  the  Eng- 
lish Government  decided  to  equip  the  Sepoy  regiments 
with  the  Enfield  rifle,  in  place  of  the  old-fashioned 
musket.  In  those  days,  before  the  epoch  of  the  breech- 
loader, the  rifle  was  loaded  from  the  muzzle,  the  car- 
tridge being  covered  with  grease,  to  enable  it  to  slip 
down  the  barrel  more  easily.  Now,  animal  grease  was 
an  abomination  to  the  native,  whether  Hindoo  or 
Mohammedan.  To  his  suspicious  mind  this  seemed  a 
direct  blow  at  his  religion,  —  especially  as  the  end  of 
the  greased  cartridge  had  to  be  torn  off  by  the  teeth 
before  loading.  The  Sepoys  mutinied,  and  in  1857-58 
there  were  fearful  massacres,  especially  at  Meerut  and 
Cawnpore.  After  a  time,  and  largely  through  the 
efforts  of  Havelock  and  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  the  mutiny 
was  suppressed.  Its  principal  results  were  the  repeal 
of  Pitt's  India  Act,  and  the  transference  of  the  govern- 
ment of  India  to  the  Crown. 

In  1858  an  Italian,  Orsini  by  name,  attempted  to 
murder  Napoleon  III.,  Emperor  of  the  French.  It  was 
asserted  that  Orsini  planned  his  scheme  in  England ; 
and  to  prevent  England's  being  made  the  basis  of  future 
attacks,  Palmerston  introduced  a  bill  increasing  the 
penalty  incurred  by  those  conspiring  to  murder,  no 
matter  where  the  murder  should  be  attempted.  This 
awakened  great  jealousy  among  the  English  people, 
who  are  very  sensitive  about  anything  which  looks  like 


1859]  THE  "  FANCY  FRANCHISES."  333 

"  foreign  dictation."     Some  went  further,  and  declared 
that  Pahnerston  was  acting  under  direct  orders    second 
from    Napoleon.      He  was   obliged    to    resign,    ofsradii 
and  Earl  Derby  again  became  Prime  Minister,    ^^l^^^l^ 
with  Mr.  Disraeli  as  his  right-hand  man.  '^59)- 

This  second  ministry  of  Earl  Derby  is  memorable  for 
the  passage  of  an  Act  to  admit  Jews  to  Parliament. 
Hitherto  all  members  of  Parliament  had  been  jews 
obliged  to  swear  to  certain  things  on  **  the  true  t^'paJfja. 
faith  of  a  Christian."  Ten  times  over,  bills  had  "^^"t- 
been  brought  in  to  remove  this  disability.  The  Com- 
mons were  in  favor  of  the  measure,  but  whenever  it  had 
come  before  the  Peers  they  had  rejected  it.  It  was 
now  agreed  to  let  each  House  regulate  its  oaths  as  it 
pleased.  The  Commons  immediately  changed  the  form 
of  its  own  oath,  and  in  July,  1858,  Baron  Rothschild,  the 
great  banker,  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

The  next  spring  Mr.  Disraeli  brought  forward  a 
scheme  for  further  reform  in  the  representation  in  Par- 
liament.    Mr.  Disraeli  disliked  any  scheme  of  ^^  ^,, 

-^  The  "  fancy 

representation  based  on  mere  numbers.  He  franchises" 
thought,  however,  that  all  classes  in  the  com-  ^ 
munity  should  be  represented,  and  in  his  Reform  Bill 
of  1859  he  tried  to  provide  for  this.  He  proposed,  in 
short,  to  give  the  right  of  voting  to  doctors,  lawyers 
college  graduates,  those  receiving  a  pension  from  the 
Government,  or  owning  Government  bonds,  or  having 
money  in  a  savings-bank,  and  many  other  classes  of 
persons.  The  Opposition  laughed  at  these  "  fancy  fran- 
chises," as  they  were  termed,  and  defeated  the  bill.  A 
general  election  was  then  held,  and  when  Parliament 
assembled,  Mr.  Disraeli  found  himself  in  a  minority  in 
the  Commons.  He  and  Lord  Derby  resigned,  and  the 
Liberals  again  took  officQ. 


334  VICTORIA.  [i860 

Lord  Palmerston  was  again  Prime  Minister  with  Lord 
John  Russell  as  Foreign  Secretary.  Mr.  Gladstone  now 
definitely  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  Liberal  party,  and 


LORD  JOHN    RUSSELL  :     FROM    A    PAINTING    BY    SIR    F.    GRANT, 
IN    POSSESSION    OF    DOWAGER   COUNTESS    RUSSELL. 

became  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  or  minister  of 
Second  finance.  Lord  Palmerston  was  now  an  old  man, 
ftoiT^'^"  ^^^  ^^^  ^he  rest  of  his  life,  which  ended  with 
ministry  j^jg  ministry,  he  tried  only  to  keep  his  party 
1862).  together,  and  to  avoid  all  causes  of  excitement 
at  home.  In  i860  Lord  John  Russell  brought  in  a 
Heform  Bill ;  but  no  interest  was  taken  in  the  subject, 


i86i.J  THE  COTTON  FAMINE.  335 

Palmerston  even  staying  away  from  the  debates ;  so 
Russell  withdrew  the  bill,  and  no  reforms  of  any  kind 
were  attempted,  except  in  the  finances. 

By  this  time  free-trade  doctrines  had  been  accepted 
as  true  by  the  great  mass  of  Englishmen.  In  1859  a 
commercial  treaty  with  France  caused  a  large  ^,  , 

■'  ^      Gladstone's 

extension  of  English  commerce.    Mr.  Gladstone  financial 

11  ...  ,  .  policy. 

seized  the  opportunity  this  treaty  gave  him  to 
rearrange  all  the  taxes.  In  1845,  1163  articles  were 
taxed  when  imported.  By  1859  the  number  had  been 
reduced  to  419.  During  these  years  of  Palmerston's 
second  ministry  Mr.  Gladstone  carried  bills  reducing 
the  number  of  articles  taxed  at  importation  to  forty-five ; 
and  yet  all  the  time  the  revenue  went  on  increasing. 
This  was  the  more  remarkable  because  during  these 
years  the  Civil  War  was  raging  in  America,  and 
ICngland's  trade  with  the  United  States  was  seriously 
impaired. 

The  most  serious  blow  to  trade,  however,  was  the 
almost  entire  stoppage  of  the  American  cotton  supply 
during  the  Civil  War.      Upon  this  cotton  the 
working-people  of  Manchester,  Liverpool,  and   Cotton 
other   manufacturing  towns  depended.      When 
the  supply  ceased,  the  mills  stopped,  and  no  more  wages 
could  be  earned.     Starvation  stared  the  working-people 
in  the  face,  and  that  through  no  fault  of  their  own.     Yet 
they  recognized  that  the  cause  of  the  American  Union 
was  the  cause  of  free  labor  the  world  over,  and  deserv- 
ing of  the  sympathy  of  the  working-class.     But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  this  class  had  at  that  time  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  governing  England. 

It  was  far  otherwise  with  the  upper  classes.  Mr. 
Gladstone  placed  himself  squarely  on  the  side  of  the 


336  VICTORIA.  [1863. 

Confederate  States.  So  did  other  Liberal  leaders,  one 
of  them  going  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  separation  of 
_    ,     „    the  North  and  South  was  desirable.     Mr.  John 

England's  _  -^ 

policy        Bright  and  the  Prince  Consort  remained  through- 

during  1  r  •  1  r      1  i-  •         1 

the  Civil  out  the  iriends  oi  those  struggling  in  the  cause 
of  union  and  freedom ;  and  it  required  all  their 
influence  to  prevent  England's  taking  sides.  The  min- 
istry was  soon  assailed  by  both  belligerents.  The 
seceding  States  wished  belligerents'  rights  granted  them, 
even  if  England  would  not  go  farther  and  recognize 
their  independence.  The  Southern  Confederacy  was, 
in  fact,  recognized  as  a  belligerent ;  that  is,  England 
determined  to  be  neutral,  and  forbade  either  party 
using  her  ports  as  starting-points  for  hostile  expeditions. 
The  trouble  was  that  the  English  law  did  not  give  the 
Government  sufficient  power  to  carry  out  this  policy. 
Americans  are  apt  to  censure  too  severely  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  and  Earl  Russell  for  their  actions  during  the  strug- 
gle. For  some  unexplained  reason,  ''  English  society  " 
sympathized  very  strongly  indeed  with  the  seceding 
States,  and  Lord  Palmerston  needed  all  his  tact  and 
energy  to  prevent  the  ministry  from  being  forced  to 
take  the  side  of  the  South.  Charles  Francis  Adams 
was  the  American  Minister  at  London  during  these 
The  "Ala-  years.  He  had  a  most  difficult  part  to  play, 
bama."  ^^^  English-built  privateer,  the  "Alabama," 
escaped  before  the  Government  could  make  up  its  mind 
to  seize  her.  Other  and  more  powerful  Confederate 
cruisers  were  on  the  point  of  being  launched,  when  Mr. 
Adams  wrote  promptly  to  Earl  Russell  that  such  negli- 
gence on  the  part  of  the  English  Government  was 
equivalent  to  war.  The  ministry  awoke,  and  seized  the 
cruisers.     In  the  end,  the  insufficienc}'  of  her  laws  to 


186;.] 


THE  SECOND   REFORM  ACT. 


337 


prevent  the  fitting  out  of  armed  expeditions  against 
friendly  powers  cost  England  fifteen  and  one-half  mil- 
lion dollars,  —  this  being  the  sum  a  Court  of  Arbitration 
held  at  Geneva  awarded  as  damages  to  the  United 
States.  In  1865  Lord  Palmerston  died,  and  Lord  John 
Russell,  who  had  been  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Earl 
Russell,  took  his  place  as  Prime  Minister. 


ROYAL   ARMS   AT    ACCESSION  OF  VICTORIA. 


OUTLINE. 


Accession  of  Queen  Victoria.  Unrest  in  Canada  and  Jamaica. 
Sir  Robert  Peel  becomes  Prime  Minister;  his  free  trade  policy. 
Repeal  of  the  duty  on  food-stuffs.  The  Irish  famine ;  emigration  of 
the  Irish.  The  People's  Charter.  The  Crimean  War  and  Sepoy 
Mutiny.  Jews  admitted  to  Parliament.  Benjamin  Disraeli  (after- 
wards Lord  Beaconsfield)  and  W.  E.  Gladstone;  their  policies. 
England  and  the  Civil  War;  the  Alabama. 


QUESTIONS. 

1.  Who  was   Queen  Victoria,  and  what  right  had  she  to  the 
crown  }    (See  genealogy  on  p.  250.) 

2.  Explain  Peel's  policy  as  to  the  repeal  of  the  protective  tarifl. 


33  B  TOPICS. 

3.  Describe  the  famine  in  Ireland.     To  what  causes  was  it  due? 
What  were  its  results  ?     What  were  the  "  clearances  "  ? 

4.  What  did  the  Chartists  demand?     Do  these  demands  seem 
unreasonable  ? 

6.    Why  did  the  Sepoys  mutiny? 

TOPICS. 

Make  a  table  showing  the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  W.  E. 
Gladstone ;  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  (Disraeli). 


i86s.]  THE  SECOND   REFORM  ACT.  339 

CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

VICTORIA. 

1837-1901. 

Part  II.     1 865-1 901. 

EARL   RUSSELL,   with    rather    injudicious    haste, 
now  brought  forward  a  Reform  Bill ;   but  his  party- 
was  not  yet  ready  to  vote  for  such  a  measure.  ^^^^ 
He  was  defeated,  and  resigned.     Earl  Derby  and  Disraeli 
Mr.   Disraeli   for  the  third  time  took  charge  of  (1865- 
the  government.     In  February,  1868,  Earl  Derby  ^     ^' 
resigned,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  for  nearly  a  year  was  Prime 
Minister. 

The  Liberals,  though  disunited,   formed   a  majority 
in  the  Commons,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  was  obliged  to  act 
very  nearly  as  they  wished.     He  soon  brought   .p. 
in  a  Reform  Bill  himself;    and  as  the    people   Second 

.  .        ,  ^,  .  ^         Reform 

were  now  takmg  a  great  mterest  m  the  subject.    Act 
a  bill  for  this  purpose  was  carried  through.    As 
finally  passed,  the   Second    Reform  Act  was    really   a 
Liberal    measure,  —  more    radical,  in  fact,   than  either 
Mr.  Gladstone  or  Mr.  Bright  then  wished ;  and  it  greatly 
extended  the  franchise. 

Up  to  this  time  all  inhabitants  of  the  several  towns 
and  parishes  in  England  had  been  obliged  by  law  to  pay 
taxes,  or  rates,   for  the  support  of  the  Estab-    ^  ^  ^^ 
iished  Church,  whether  they  attended  its  services   sory 
or  not.     On   the  motion  of  Mr.  Gladstone,,  an    Rates 
Act  abolishing  compulsory  taxation  for  religious 
purposes  in  England  was  passed.     Then  he  hit  upon  a 
scheme  for  uniting  the  divisions  of  the  Liberal  party. 


340  VICTORIA.  [1868. 

Ever  since  the  time   of  Queen  Elizabeth  the    Enghsh 
P^jj  Church  had  been  estabHshed  in  Ireland.     Pro- 

of the        bably  not  one-tenth   of  the  people    of  Ireland 

Disraeli  ^        ^ 

ministry  evcr  attended  the  services  of  the  Established 
Church.  The  Catholics  hated  it,  not  merely 
because  it  was  a  Protestant  Church,  but  also  because  it 
was  a  religion  forced  upon  them  by  their  conquerors ; 
nor  did  the  great  mass  of  the  Protestants  like  it  much 
better.  Most  of  them  were  Presbyterians,  and  were 
opposed  to  the  English  Episcopal  Church  on  their  own 
account.  The  continuance  of  this  State  Church  of  an 
alien  minority  seemed  to  English  Liberals  to  be  a  great 
evil.  They  joined  Mr.  Gladstone  to  disestablish  it,  or, 
in  other  words,  to  separate  it  from  the  State.  In  the 
general  election  in  1868  the  Liberals  were  successful. 
Mr.  Disraeli  resigned,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  became  Prime 
Minister. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  redeem  the  promises 
made  with  regard  to  the  Irish  Church.  This  was  now 
Pj^g^.  disestablished,    notwithstanding    the  opposition 

Gladstone  of  many  Peers,  who  dreaded   a   chang^e   in   the 

ministry  -^  ^  *=» 

(1868-  relation  of  Church  and  State.  In  place  of  the 
Irish  Church  an  independent  Episcopal  Church 
was  organized  in  Ireland.  The  passage  of  this  measure 
opened  the  flood-gates  for  reform,  and  in  the  next  five 
years  one  measure  after  another  was  carried. 

The  most  important  of  these  was  the  Irish  Land  Act. 
To  understand  it  and  the  reasons  for  its  passage  we 
must  look  a  little  more  closely  into  the  mode  of  holding 
Irish  land  in  Ireland.  This  is  the  more  necessary, 
^^"q£  because  to  an  American  the  whole  land  system 
(1870).  Qf  ^j^g  United  Kingdom  seems  more  or  less 
absurd.     In    all    settled     countries    arable    land    has  a 


1870.]  THE   IRISH   LAND   ACT.  34 1 

value.  In  America  it  is  usually  divided  into  moder- 
ately small  estates,  owned  by  the  farmers  who  cultivate 
them.  It  is  true  that  many  American  farms  are  mort- 
gaged ;  but  even  then  the  title  to  the  property  is  in  the 
cultivator,  as  long  as  he  pays  his  taxes,  and  interest  on 
the  mortgage.  In  England,  however,  the  case  is  quite 
different.  There,  the  arable  land  is  owned  in  large 
pieces  by  a  small  number  of  rich  landowners.  These 
estates  are  usually  divided  into  farms,  which  are  let, 
with  all  their  improvements,  to  the  farmers  who  cul- 
tivate them.  The  terms  in  each  case  are  determined 
by  an  agreement  between  the  owner  and  tenant,  called  a 
lease.  Now,  English  farmers  are  usually  men  of  some 
means,  who  can  use  their  money  and  brains  in  an- 
other way  if  they  fail  to  find  a  farm  to  their  tastes.  In 
Ireland  precisely  the  same  conditions  prevailed  in 
theory.  In  practice,  however,  the  land  systems  of  the 
two  countries  were  as  unlike  as  two  things  of  the  same 
kind  could  well  be.  The  soil  of  Ireland  was  owned  by 
a  small  number  of  persons,  as  was  the  case  in  England; 
but  there  the  similarity  ceased.  In  Ireland  there  were 
few  well-to-do  farmers  able  to  make  satisfactory  terms 
with  the  landlords,  or  to  engage  in  any  other  occupa- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
most  Irishmen,  if  they  wished  to  live  in  Ireland,  to  have 
land  to  cultivate;  there  was  nothing  else  for  them  to 
do.  Thus  the  landlords  were  able  to  make  their  own 
terms  with  their  tenants.  Instead  of  providing  a  farm 
with  a  system  of  drainage  and  buildings  all  complete, 
the  landlord  only  let  the  land  itself  to  his  tenants.  II 
the  tenant  wished  a  house  to  live  in,  he  must  build  one. 
If  he  wished  a  barn  to  place  his  crops  in,  he  must  build 
that.    If  he  thought  draining  would  make  the  farm  more 


342 


VICTORIA. 


[187a 


profitable,  he  must  make  the  necessary  improvements 
himself.  Then  in  Ireland  there  were  few  leases,  and 
the  great  mass  of  the  farmers  were  only  tenants  at  will ; 
that  is,  the  landlords  might  turn  them  out  of  their  farmr 
at  will,  the  forms  of  law,  of  course,  being  complied  with 


MR.    GLADSTONE,   FROM   A   PHOTOGRAPH   BY   ELLIOTT  &   FRY,    l88c. 


This  was  called ''eviction."  Let  us  see  how  this  sys- 
tem worked  in  practice.  Suppose  a  tenant  were  to 
hire  a  farm  and  to  improve  the  land  so  as  to  make  it 
more  profitable.  The  landlord  may  immediately  raise 
the  rent;  for  is  not  the  tenant  able  to  pay  more  rent?  If 
the  tenant  demur,  he  may  be  evicted,  and  the  farm  let 
to  some  one  else.     So  it  was  not  for  the  interest  of  the 


1870]  tHE  IRISH  LAND  ACT.  343 

Irish  farmer  to  improve  his  property,  or,  in  fact,  to 
appear  to  be  in  any  way  prosperous, —  not  even  to  buy 
a  new  coat;  for  if  the  landlord  saw  him  with  a  new  coat 
on  his  back,  he  might  be  tempted  to  raise  the  rent. 
The  inevitable  result  of  such  a  system  was  bad  cultiva- 
tion, and  a  conflict  between  the  two  classes,  which  went 
by  the  name  of  the  "  land-war."  The  Irish  claimed  a 
share  in  the  land.  They  demanded  fixity  of  tenure; 
that  is,  the  right  to  one's  holding  as  long  as  the  rent 
was  paid.  They  also  demanded  that  the  tenant  should 
have  the  right,  when  he  left  his  holding,  to  sell  his 
improvements  to  the  incoming  tenant.  Finally,  they 
demanded  fair  rents, —  the  amount  to  be  determined  by 
a  court  instituted  for  that  purpose.  The  first  two  de- 
mands were  practically  included  under  what  was  known 
as  the  "  Ulster  custom  "  of  landholding,  —  the  practice 
which  prevailed  in  the  Protestant  northern  province  of 
Ulster.  There  the  tenant  enjoyed  his  holding  as  long 
as  he  paid  his  rent;  and  when  he  parted  with  it,  he 
might  sell  his  improvements  under  the  name  of  "  good- 
will." Mr.  Gladstone  now  made  the  custom  of  Ulster, 
which  was  indeed  that  of  some  other  parts  of  Ireland 
also,  the  basis  of  his  Land  Act.  By  this  Act  no  tenant, 
as  long  as  he  paid  his  rent,  could  be  turned  out  of  his 
holding,  or  evicted,  without  receiving  from  the  landlord 
compensation  for  disturbance.  Compensation  for  im- 
provements was  also  provided,  and  the  Ulster  custom 
and  other  similar  customs  were  legalized  wherever  they 
obtained. 

The  other  great  feature  of  the  Act  was  the  attempt  to 
establish  a  peasant  proprietary,  or  small  farm  system, 
in  Ireland.  The  clauses  embodying  this  scheme  were 
mainly  the  work  of  Mr.  John  Bright ;  and  they  are  hence 


344  VICTORIA.  [1871. 

called  the  "  Bright  Clauses."  The  Act  as  a  whole,  how- 
ever, was  a  complete  failure,  owing  to  the  imperfections 

of  its  details.  No  further  attempt  was  made  till 
"Bright      1880  to  carry  out  the  great  principles  of  right 

and  justice  which  gave  rise  to  the  bill.  But  by 
the  Land  Act  of  188 1  the  Government  conceded  a  por- 
tion of  the  demands  of  the  Irish  for  the  **  three  F's," 
as  they  were  called,  —  fixity  of  tenure,  free  sale,  and  fair 
rents.  Since  that  time  the  Irish  have  sought  to  secure 
"  home  rule,"  or  local  self-government. 

It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  before  1870  there  was 
no  scheme  for  free  elementary  education  in  England. 
National  ^ct  such  was  the  casc.  Attempts  had  indeed 
education,  b^en  from  time  to  time  made  to  remedy  this 
state  of  things;  but  the  Churchmen  and  the  Dissenters 
were  never  able  to  unite  on  any  measure.  In  1871, 
however,  a  bill  was  passed  providing  for  free  elementary 
education  to  all  not  able  to  pay  for  it.  At  the  same 
time  secondary  education  was  much  improved,  and  the 
religious  tests  at  the  universities  were  abolished,  except 
for  holders  of  some  fellowships. 

The  next  subject  taken  up  was  a  reform  of  the  army. 
Perhaps  in  all  England  there  was  nothing  more  anti- 
quated than  the  army  organization ;   and  nothing  more 

antiquated  in  that  organization  than  the  system 
of  Pur-       of  allowing   officers   to  choose  their  own   rank 

chase  in  .  •      •  -r.  •  r 

the  Army   by  purchasmg  a  commission.     Promotions  for 
^  merit  were  rare,  and  splendid  officers,  deserv- 

ing well  of  the  nation,  might  be  superseded  by  rich 
men  who  could  buy  a  commission.  Yet  the  conserva- 
tive feelings  of  Englishmen  were  so  strong  that  it  was 
only  by  a  doubtful  constitutional  expedient  that  this 
absurd  practice  could  be  abolished.     The  other  reforms 


1872.]  BALLOT  ACT.  345 

in    the   army  were  not  so    strongly   opposed,    and    its 
organization  was  in  many  ways  very  much  improved. 

The  two  greatest  reforms  in  the  direction  of  good 
government  were  the  separation  of  the  civil  service 
from  party  politics,  and  the  introduction  of  vote  by 
ballot.  Civil  service  reform  had  been  begun  long  be- 
fore, and  it  was  now  completed.     But  the  Ballot    „  „ 

^  Ballot 

Act  was  an  entirely  new  measure  as  far  as  Act 
Englishmen  were  concerned.  Up  to  this  time 
the  voting  had  been  entirely  open,  and  every  landlord 
knew  how  his  tenants  voted ;  every  manufacturer  knew 
how  his  working-people  —  such  of  them  as  possessed  the 
franchise  —  voted;  and  every  parish  priest  in  Ireland 
knew  how  his  parishioners  voted.  Indeed,  elections  in 
Ireland  were  struggles  between  the  landlord  and  the 
priests.  The  elections  throughout  the  United  Kingdom 
could  in  no  sense  be  called  free  under  such  a  system. 
In  1872  this  was  remedied  by  the  passage  of  the  Ballot 
Act,  which  introduced  a  system  of  secret  voting.  At 
the  same  time  very  stringent  measures  were  taken  for 
the  prevention  of  bribery,  which  were  made  still  more 
stringent  in  1883.  A  further  extension  of  the  franchise 
was  desirable,  and  this  was  won  by  the  Third  Reform 
Act  in  1884.  At  the  same  time  the  old  borough  system 
was  abandoned,  and  representation  was  based  on  popu- 
lation. Thus  by  the  three  Reform  Acts,  by  the  Acts 
forbidding  contractors  from  sitting  in  the  Commons, 
by  the  Acts  against  bribery,  by  the  Acts  separating 
the  civil  service  from  party  politics,  and  by  the  Acts 
providing  for  secret  voting,  the  whole  structure  of  Par- 
liament has  been  changed.  The  House  of  Commons 
no  longer  represents  the  landowning  and  wealthy  classes 
alone,  but  the  whole  mass  of  the  people  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 


346  Victoria.  [1874. 

These  changes,  however  much  they  promoted  good 
government  and  freedom,  could  hardly  fail  to  arouse 
strong  opposition.  And  Mr.  Gladstone's  Government 
was  weakened  in  another  way.  It  so  happened  that,  in 
1870,  a  great  war  broke  out  between  Germany  and 
Mr.  Glad-  Fraucc.  The  Czar  of  Russia  scizcd  the  oppor- 
fordgn  tunity,  when  France  was  engaged  in  this  life- 
pohcy.  and-death  struggle,  to  undo  the  work  of  the 
Crimean  War,  and  to  overthrow  the  Treaty  of  Paris  of 
1856.  Single-handed,  England  could  do  nothing,  and 
was  forced  to  acquiesce  in  Russia's  demands.  This  was 
not  the  fault  of  Mr.  Gladstone  or  his  ministry,  but  it  no 
less  made  him  unpopular.  Then,  too,  while  pursuing  a 
policy  of  peace  and  justice  in  submitting  the  disputes 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  to  arbitra- 
tion, the  Government  acquired  still  more  unpopular- 
ity, for  the  decisions  of  the  arbitrators  were  in  every 
way  against  Great  Britain.  All  these  things,  added  to 
the  desire  for  rest  from  reform,  turned  people  against 
Mr.  Gladstone.  A  general  election  was  held  in  1874- 
The  Liberals  were  defeated,  and  Mr.  Disraeli  became 
Prime  Minister. 

The  Conservatives  had  opposed  these  reform  mea- 
sures as  strongly  as  they  could ;  but  they  were  now 
compelled  to  carry  them  out,  while  taking  off 
DisVaeii's    the  edge  of  the  most  distasteful  changes.     But 

ministry  ,  ,  .  ^i  .u 

(1874-  not  much  was  done,  m  one  way  or  the  other,  as 
1880).  ^^^^  ^^  ^1^^  home  land  was  concerned,  and,  in  fact, 
the  main  interest  of  Mr.  Disraeli's  administration  was 
in  his  foreign  policy.  This  was  in  marked  con- 
« Imperial  trast  with  that  of  his  predecessor.  In  the  first 
^°^^^'  place,  Mr.  Disraeli  believed  in  what  he  called  an 
**  Imperial  policy."    That  is  to  say,  he  thought  England 


1875.] 


PURCHASE  OF   SUEZ  CANAL  SHARES. 


347 


LORD   REACONSFIELD  :     FROM    A    PHOTOGRAPH    15Y  J.  HUGHES,  1876. 


should  take  a  leading  part  in  the  disputes  of  the  world. 
Perhaps  the  most  striking  act  of  his  time  was  the  pur- 
chase of  the  Khedive  of  Egypt's  shares  in  the  Suez 
Canal.     That  canal  formed  part  of  England's  road  to 


348  VICTORIA.  [1880. 

India.  It  was  in  danger  of  falling  completely  into  the 
hands  of  the  French,  when  suddenly  the  English  Gov- 
ernment, without  any  vote  of  Parliament,  bought  by 
telegraph  the  Khedive's  shares, —  not  quite  one  half  of 
the  whole  capital  stock  in  the  enterprise,  —  for  about 
twenty  million  dollars. 

Before  long  a  great  war  broke  out  between  Russia 
and  Turkey,  in  which  Russia  was  very  successful,  and 
Congress  Seemed  about  to  absorb  a  large  part  of  Turkey's 
of  Berlin,  possessions  in  Europe.  Mr.  Disraeli,  who  had 
been  raised  to  the  peerage  in  1876  as  Earl  of  Beacons- 
field,  regarded  this  as  directly  opposed  to  the  interests 
of  England.  A  great  many  Englishmen  thought  as  he 
did,  and  the  following  song  became  popular:  — 

"  We  don't  want  to  fight, 
But,  by  Jingo,  if  we  do. 
We  've  got  the  ships, 
We  've  got  the  men, 
We  've  got  the  money  too." 

The  new  policy  wa.i  hence  called  "  the  Jingo  policy." 
And  it  was  for  a  time  ver}^  prosperous.  Lord  Beacons- 
field  went  to  a  general  congress  of  the  Great  Powers  of 
Europe  held  at  Berlin,  and  Russia  was  compelled  to 
give  up  most  of  the  advantages  she  had  gained  from 
Turkey.  In  pursuance  of  this  same  "  Imperial  policy," 
perhaps,  the  queen  was  easily  persuaded  to  take  the 
title  of  Empress  of  India. 

Now  it  happened  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  a  man  of 
very  strong  feelings  and  prejudices,  as  well  as  of  tremen- 
Overthrow  dous  energy.  He  became  convinced  that  the 
serl^a^tives""  Turks  had  treated  the  Christians  living  in  the 
(1880).  Turkish  province  of  Bulgaria  very  cruelly;  he 
also  thought  this  "jingo  policy  "  quite  wrong.    A  general 


i88o.]  HOME  RULE.  349 

election  was  held  in  1880,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  re-entered 
political  life  with  all  his  old  fire  and  success.  In  a  series 
of  speeches  he  converted  a  majority  of  the  voters  of 
Great  Britain  to  his  views.  The  Conservatives  were 
defeated,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  again  became  Prime 
Minister. 

The  Irish  Land  Acts  had  entirely  failed  to  satisfy  the 
Irishmen ;  they  despaired  of  ever  securing  what  they 
wished  from  a  Parliament  in  which  Englishmen  „ 

°  Home 

and  Scotchmen  formed  the  great  majority.  They  Kuie  for 
now  demanded  Home  Rule  for  Ireland.  This 
alone  would  enable  them  to  deal  with  the  landlords  as 
they  thought  best.  In  1885  Mr.  Gladstone,  at  the  mo- 
ment prime  minister,  introduced  a  bill  to  give  home  rule 
to  Ireland.  This  bill  provided  that  an  Irish  Parliament 
sitting  at  Dublin  should  pass  laws  regulating  local  affairs 
in  Ireland.  The  regulation  of  the  army  and  navy,  all 
matters  concerning  peace  and  war  and  the  management 
of  foreign  affairs,  the  regulation  of  trade,  commerce,  the 
post  office,  and  telegraphs,  were  reserved  for  action  by 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain.  But  no  Irishmen  were 
to  sit  in  the  British  Parliament.  Many  Liberals  were 
opposed  to  Home  Rule  in  any  form,  and  other  Liberals 
thought  the  exclusion  of  Irish  members  unjustifiable. 
These  Liberals  refused  to  follow  Mr.  Gladstone  longer; 
they  voted  with  the  Conservatives;  the  bill  was  lost, 
and  the  Liberals  were  shortly  afterwards  defeated  at  the 
polls.  Mr.  Gladstone  resigned,  and  Lord  Salisbury  with 
the  Conservatives  and  Liberal  Unionists,  as  the  seceders 
were  called,  took  charge  of  the  government. 

The  Irishmen  then  set  on  foot  a  general  strike  against 
the  payment  of  unjust  rents.  This  scheme  was  called 
the  **  Plan  of  Campaign."     It  consisted  in  the  refusing 


350  VICTORIA.  [1894. 

of  rents  to  the  landlord,  and  the  payment  of  these  sums 
to  a  committee.  The  rent  due  but  not  paid  to  the 
The  landlord  could  be  used  as  a  fund  with  which  to 
of  Cam-  fight  the  landlord  in  any  way  that  might  seem 
paign."  best.  Attacks  on  landlords  and  on  their  support- 
ers now  rapidly  increased.  These  disturbances  caused 
Lord  Salisbury  to  pass  through  Parliament  a  law  greatly 
increasing  the  power  of  the  magistrates,  and  permitting 
them  to  try  without  a  jury  persons  accused  of  offences 
made  criminal  by  the  act.  At  the  same  time  another  land 
act  was  passed  much  more  favorable  to  the  tenants. 

In  1893  Mr.  Gladstone  again  came  into  power.  He 
brought  in  another  Home  Rule  bill.  This  time  he  pro- 
Glad-  vided  that  the  Irish  should  have  a  Parliament  in 
second  Ireland  and,  at  the  same  time,  should  have  repre- 
KuiT  sentatives  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  This  change 
^ii'-  satisfied  some  of  the  Liberal  Unionists,  but  most 
of  them  still  held  aloof.  The  bill  passed  the  Commons, 
but  was  refused  in  the  Lords  by  a  tremendous  majority. 
Early  in  1894  Mr.  Gladstone,  worn  out  by  care  and 
age,  resigned.  In  1895  an  election  was  held.  It  showed 
that  the  voters  were  opposed  to  the  Home  Rule,  and 
The  Sal-  Lord  Salisbury  again  came  into  power.  Mr. 
Ministry,  Joseph  Chamberlain,  the  leader  of  the  Liberal 
1894-.  Unionists,  was  given  the  office  of  Colonial  Secre- 
tary. The  Salisbury  government  has  made  some  slight 
concessions  to  the  wishes  of  the  Irish  for  self-govern- 
ment by  giving  them  a  share  in  the  local  administration 
of  Ireland.  Since  1894  there  has  been  little  agitation 
in  Ireland.  But  there  is  something  wrong  with  the 
condition  of  society  and  industry  in  the  Emerald  Isle. 
Since  1841  the  population  of  England  has  doubled,  and 
so  too  has  the  population  of  Scotland.     But  in  Ireland, 


1885]  THE  ENGLISH   IN  EGYPT.  35 1 

on  the  other  hand,  there  are  now  only  about  one-half  as 
many  people  as  there  were  in  1841,  —  in  that  year  there 
were  8,175,124  people  in  Ireland;  in  1901  there  were 
only  4,456,546. 

The  principal  work  of  Lord  Salisbury  in  his  last 
administration  was  to  strengthen  England's  hold  on 
Egypt  and  to  bring  all  South  Africa  under  British  rule. 
We  will  take  these  two  matters  up  in  order. 

The  Suez  Canal  formed  the  most  important  single 
link  in  the  chain  of  communication  between  Britain  and 
India.  Egypt,  just  to  the  west  of  the  Isthmus  of  The 
Suez,  practically  controls  the  canal.  Frenchmen  j^"si»sh 
designed  and  constructed  the  canal  with  Egyptian  ^syp'- 
aid  in  men  and  money.  The  Khedive  of  Egypt  was 
always  in  need  of  money,  and  sold  his  shares  in  the 
stock  of  the  canal  to  England.  This  was  done  when 
Disraeli  was  in  power.  A  few  years  later  (1882),  when 
Gladstone  was  Prime  Minister,  a  rebellion  against  the 
Turkish  authorities  occurred  in  Egypt.  In  the  course 
of  this  excitement  Europeans  were  killed  at  Alexandria. 
Great  Britain  at  once  interfered,  bombarded  Alexandria, 
and  sent  an  army  to  Egypt  under  Lord  Wolseley.  The 
British  defeated  the  Egyptians  at  the  battle  of  Tel-el- 
Kebir.  They  captured  the  Egyptian  leaders  and  sent 
them  to  prison  or  to  exile. 

For  many  years  Egypt  had  been  governing  the  re- 
gion south  of  the  Sahara  which  is  called  the  Soudan. 
At  about  the  time  the  Egyptians  rebelled  against  The 
their  ruler,  the  Soudanese  also  rebelled  against  s°"^"- 
the  Egyptians.  They  routed  one  ai:my  after  another. 
Then  General  Gordon,  an  Englishman  who  had  been 
Governor-General  of  the  Soudan,  offered  to  go  to  Khar- 
tum, the  capital  of  that  region,  and  rescue  the  Egyptians 


352  VICTORIA.  [1.S85. 

and  Europeans.  He  was  too  late,  however,  and  was 
himself  captured  and  killed  by  the  rebels  before  a  force 
could  reach  Khartum  to  rescue  him.  This  was  in 
January,    1885. 

In  the  next  four  years  there  was  doubt  as  to  what 
should  finally  be  done  with  Egypt.  But  when  Lord 
Recon-  Salisbury  became  Prime  Minister  in  1894,  these 
of'the  doubts  finally  came  to  an  end.  The  British 
Soudan,  decided  to  maintain  their  hold  on  Egypt  and  to 
reconquer  the  Soudan.  This  latter  task  was  entrusted 
to  Lord  Kitchener.  After  years  of  preparation,  includ- 
ing the  building  of  a  railroad  across  the  Sahara,  he 
defeated  the  Soudanese  in  a  terrible  battle  near  Khar- 
tum. Sixteen  thousand  Soudanese  are  said  to  have 
perished  in  the  battle  or  to  have  died  soon  afterwards. 
This  was  in  1898.  The  Khedive  is  still  nominal  ruler 
of  Egypt  and  the  Soudan  ;  but  he  is  obliged  to  do  what 
Lord  Cromer,  the  English  representative,  tells  him  to 
do.  Egypt  and  the  Soudan  are  therefore  practically 
British  possessions. 

The  story  of  the  British  in  South  Africa  is  more 
complicated.  Napoleon  in  the  time  of  his  power  added 
^,  Holland  to  his  domains.     The  English  could  not 

The  *^ 

British  seize  Holland  ;  but  they  occupied  many  of  Hol- 
Cape  land's  most  valuable  colonial  possessions.  Cey- 
Coiony.  ^^^^  ^^^  Cape  Colony,  with  a  part  of  Dutch 
Guiana,  the  British  retained  at  the  peace  following  the 
final  overthrow  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo.  Cape  Colony 
was  of  value  to  the  British  before  the  opening  of  the 
Suez  Canal  because  Cape  Town  was  an  important  station 
on  the  sea-route  to  India.  The  Dutch  colonists  or  Boers 
have  never  liked  the  British.  Some  of  them  stayed  in 
Cape  Colony  ;   others  "  trekked  "  or  moved  away  from 


rans- 
vaal. 


1881.]  THE  BOERS.  353 

the  Cape.  From  time  to  time  the  British  followed 
them  until  finally  those  Boers  who  moved  farthest  away- 
settled  to  the  north  of  the  Vaal  River  in  what  has  since 
been  called  the  Transvaal. 

At   one   time   the   natives   beset   these  Transvaalers 
so  hard  that  they  called  upon  the  British  for  aid.    ,^.,^ 
The  British  came  to  their  help,  beat  the  natives,    i^^ers 

and 

and  then  annexed  the  Transvaal.  Before  long  it  British 
appeared  that  the  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  did  not  Tr 
like  the  rule  of  their  saviors.  They  rose  against 
them  and  defeated  them  at  Majuba  Hill.  This  was  in 
1 88 1,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  was  Prime  Minister.  Instead 
of  sending  soldiers  to  South  Africa  he  agreed  to  give 
the  Transvaal  Boers  self-government  under  certain  con- 
ditions, one  of  which  was  that  the  management  of  foreign 
relations  should  be  in  British  hands.  Not  long  after  this, 
gold  in  great  quantities  was  discovered  in  the  Transvaal, 
and  the  British  under  the  lead  of  Cecil  Rhodes  founded 
a  great  colony  to  the  west  and  north  of  the  Transvaal, — 
called  Rhodesia.  British  gold-seekers  now  poured  into 
the  Transvaal.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  if  these  new- 
comers were  given  the  right  to  vote,  as  is  the  case 
with  new-comers  to  the  United  States,  the  British  gold- 
miners  would  soon  outvote  the  Dutch  farmers  and 
ranchmen  and  would  govern  the  Transvaal.  So  the 
Dutch  throughout  South  Africa  formed  a  great  scheme 
to  drive  the  British  into  the  sea.  With  the  money 
gained  from  taxing  the  mines,  the  Transvaal  collected 
enormous  quantities  of  the  best  arms  and  ammunition. 
They  not  only  refused  to  give  political  rights  to  the 
British  miners  on  easy  terms,  but  actually  made  the 
conditions  harder  and  harder.  The  miners  were  rest- 
less   under   these   circumstances.      At    one    time   they 

23 


354  VICTORIA.  [1898 

planned  an  insurrection  with  help  from  the  armed 
forces  of  Rhodesia.  This  attempt  was  called  the 
Jameson  Raid,  and  failed  utterly.  The  miners  now 
appealed  to  the  English  people.  In  1894,  Lord  Salis- 
bury and  Mr.  Chamberlain  took  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment. They  determined  to  put  an  end  to  this  state  of 
affairs.  Their  demands  led  the  Transvaal  Boers  to  de- 
clare war.  In  this  conflict  they  were  assisted  by  the 
people  of  a  Boer  republic  to  the  south  of  the  Transvaal 
—  which  was  called  the  Orange  Free  State.  Large 
numbers  of  Boers  from  Cape  Colony  itself  also  joined 
them. 

In   1899,  when  the  war  began,  there  were  few  British 

,  troops  in  South  Africa.     The  Boers  poured  over 

Boer       the  borders,  and   the    British  soon  found  them- 

War. 

selves  shut  up  in  three  widely  separated  towns. 
These  were  Ladysmith,  not  very  far  from  the  sea,  Kim- 
berly,  where  there  were  rich  diamond  mines,  and  Mafe- 
king,  far  in  the  interior.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
soldiers  were  now  sent  to  Africa  from  Britain  and  from 
the  British  colonies.  The  difficulties  with  which  they 
had  to  contend  were  tremendous.  In  the  first  place 
they  had  to  come  thousands  of  miles  from  Britain  to 
South  Africa,  and  then  be  transported  another  thousand 
miles  or  more  into  the  interior  over  a  single  track  rail- 
road, march  and  fight  in  a  very  difficult  country,  and 
under  conditions  hitherto  unknown  in  warfare.  The 
British  suffered  disaster  after  disaster  in  the  beginning, 
but  kept  their  hold  on  Ladysmith,  Kimberly,  and  Mafe- 
king.  The  first  attack  of  the  Boers  having  failed,  the 
numbers  and  resources  of  the  British  slowly  began  to 
tell ;  but  it  was  not  until  June,  1902,  that  the  Boer 
leaders  finally  laid  down  their  arms. 


i93»]  THE  BRITISH   EMPIRE.  355 

In  January,  1901,  Queen  Victoria  died  after  the  long- 
est reign  in  English  history.  Her  eldest  son  Edward 
became  king  with  the  title  of  Edward  VII. 


VII. 

1901. 


In  thus  tracing  the  formation  and  growth  Qf  the  great 
British  Empire,  the  reader  will  notice  the  vast  energy 
and  persistence  with  which  "  the  expansion  of 
England,"  as  it  has  been  called,  has  been  carried  British 
on.  A  little  island  off  the  coast  of  Europe  has  "^^^^^' 
made  itself  the  head  of  the  most  marvellous  empire 
w^hich  the  world  ever  saw.  The  British  Empire  has 
now  an  area  of  some  nine  million  square  miles  of  terri- 
tory, scattered  all  over  the  globe ;  and  it  has  one-half 
of  the  ocean  commerce  of  the  world.  Its  area  is  nearly 
three  times  that  of  the  United  States,  and  almost  three 
times  that  of  all  Europe.  This,  empire  lies  in  all  zones, 
bears  all  products,  and  represents  almost  every  race, 
color,  religion,  and  mode  of  government.  The  sun  never 
sets  upon  the  British  Empire ;  and  though  this  fact  is 
now  found  to  be  true  of  the  United  States  also,  since 
the  acquisition  of  Alaska,  yet  it  is  barely  true;  and 
there  is  no  real  comparison  to  be  made  between  the  two 
nations  as  to  range  of  soil  and  variety  of  people. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  with 
the  British  Empire,  as  with  the  Roman  Empire,  its 
weakness  lies  in  its  very  extent.  It  is  not  made  conciu- 
up,  as  is  mainly  the  case  with  the  United  States,  ^'°"' 
of  a  population  speaking  the  same  language  and  adopt- 
ing similar  laws.  Very  many  of  those  included  in  the 
British  Empire,  including  the  whole  vast  Indian  popu- 
lation, are  kept  there  by  force  of  arms,  and  without  any 
real  sympathy  or  fellowship,  and  may  at  any  moment 
prove  a  source  of  weakness  rather  than  strength.    Then 


356  VICTORIA. 

there  are  colonies,  almost  purely  British  in  origin,  —  as 
Australia,  —  which  are  so  nearly  independent  that  many 
persons  consider  it  only  a  question  of  time  when  they 
shall  become  detached,  like  the  United  States ;  and  when 
Canada  itself  may  be  independent,  or  join  its  fate  with  the 
North  American  Republic.  It  is  a  very  important  fact 
that,  as  stated  by  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  there  are  three  times 
as  many  natives  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  United 
States  as  in  all  the  British  colonies  put  together.  This 
fact,  while  sometimes  a  source  of  jealousy,  promises  in 
the  end  to  bring  this  nation  and  England  closer  together 
than  any  other  two  great  nations.  At  present,  our 
commerce  is  chiefly  with  England,  and  it  is  the  English 
influence  which  is  most  strongly  felt  in  our  social  habits 
and,  to  some  extent,  in  our  literature.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  draw  our  art  from  France,  and  our  science 
from  Germany,  almost  as  completely  as  if  England  did 
not  exist.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  England  is  nearest  to  us 
among  all  nations,  and  it  is  the  history  of  England 
which,  next  to  that  of  our  Own  country,  needs  to  be 
studied  by  our  people. 


OUTLINE. 

Progress  of  reform  :  Second  Reform  Act  (1867),  abolition  of  com- 
pulsory church  rates  in  England  ;  disestablishment  of  the  Protestant 
Church  in  Ireland.  Land-holding  in  Ireland;  the  first  Irish  Land 
Act,  the  Education  Act,  and  the  Ballot  Act;  Disraeli's  "Imperial 
pohcy,"  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  policy  and  its  failure,  Sahsbury's 
repression  policy.  England  interferes  to  put  down  rebellion  in 
Egypt  and  retains  control  of  the  country.  The  Soudan :  its  loss 
and  re-conquest.  The  English  and  the  Boers  in  South  Africa ;  over- 
throw of  the  Boer  republics.     Death  of  Queen  Victoria. 


QUESTIONS  AND  TOPIC.  35/ 

QUESTIONS. 

1.  Describe  the  land  system  of  Ireland.     What  is  meant  by  the 
word  "  eviction  "  ?    What  were  the  "  three  F's  "  ? 

2.  Compare  the  Ballot  Act  with  the  system  in  use  in  your  State. 

3.  What  is  Home   Rule.-*     Do  we   have    Home    Rule   in   the 
United  States? 

4.  Why  do  the  British  desire  Egypt .'' 

5.  Compare  the  policy  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Trans- 
vaal as  to  new-comers. 

6.  How  long  was  Victoria's  reign  ?     Name  the  next  longest 
reign. 

TOPIC. 

Write  an  account  of  any  battle  of  the  campaigns  mentioned  in 
this  chapter. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Aberdeen,    Lord,    Prime    Minister, 

33o»33»- 
Aboukir  Bay,  295. 
Abury,  10. 

Acadia,  ceded  to  England,  247. 
Act  of  Supremacy  (1534),  118. 
Acts  of    Supremacy  and   Uniformity, 

144,  150. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  336. 
Adams,  John,  286. 

Addington,  Mr.,  Prime  Minister,  297, 
Admiralty,  Lords  of,  264. 
Adriatic  Sea,  45. 
Africa,  354. 

Agincourt,  battle  of,  89. 
Agricola,  11. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  peace  of,  261. 
Alabama,  the,  336. 
Alaric,  13. 
Alaska,  355. 

Albert,  Prince  Consort,  319,  336. 
Albion,  I,  6,  10. 
Alderney,  47. 
Alexandria,  351. 
Alfred.  King,  22,  23,  29. 
"  All  the  Talents,"  ministry  of,  299. 
Alleghany  Mountains,  262. 
Allen,  Ethan,  277. 
Althorp,  Lord,  315. 
America,  9,  17,  21,  iot,  146,  t8i,  227, 

247,   262,   264,  271,  274,    275,  280. 

283,  285,   286,  295,  304,  305,   309, 

323»  3241  328,  341- 
American  Revolution,  295. 
Amiens,  peace  of,  298. 
Andr^,  Major,  282,  283. 
Angles,  or  English,  to,  16. 
Anne  of  Cleves,  i2t. 
Anne,  Queen,  234,  247 ;  becomes  queen, 

244;  portrait  of,  244;  death,  251. 


Anti-Corn  Law  League,  324. 

Antwerp,  155,  301. 

Apt-eals  to  Rome,  statute  forbidding, 

116. 
Aquitaine,  47. 
Archangel,  port  of,  155. 
Argaum,  battle  of,  301. 
Argyle,  Archibald  C,  Earl  of,  228. 
Argyle,  Duke  of,  260. 
Army,  abolition  of    purchase  in  the, 

344- 

Arnold,  Benedict,  277,  278,283;  trea- 
son of,  282. 

Arthur,  King,  15. 

Arthur,  Prince,  47. 

Ashley,  Lord,  317. 

Assaye,  battle  of,  301. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  loi,  139,  262. 

Attempt  to  arrest  the  Five  Members, 
187. 

Augustine,  a  monk.  19. 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  299. 

Australia,  356. 

Austria,  45,  113,  258,  262,  293,  300. 

Avignon,  71. 

Bacon,  Francis,  Lord  Chancellor  im- 
peachment of,  167,  168. 

Bacon.  Roger,  55. 

Ball,  John,  ']^. 

Balliol,  John,  57,  58. 

Balliol,  John,  son  of  John,  58. 

Ballot  Act,  345. 

Bank  of  England,  294  ;  established,  241, 
242;  suspends  specie  payments,  294. 

Bannockburn,  61. 

Barebone,  Praise-God,  206. 

Barebone's  Parliament,  206. 

Bamet,  96,  97. 

Bajtwick,  John,  180. 


362 


INDEX. 


Bavarians,  the,  244,  246. 

Baxter,  Richard,  220,  221. 

Beachy  Head,  battle  of,  240,  241. 

Beaconsfield,  Earl  of,  portrait  of,  347  ; 
imperial  policy,  346-348.  See  Dis- 
raeli. 

Beauforts,  the,  99. 

Beaumont,  a  poet,  158. 

Becket,  Thomas,  42,  43. 

Bedchamber  question,  322. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  92,  93. 

Bedford,  Duke  of  (another),  315. 

Belgium,  223,  304. 

Bennington,  battle  of,  278. 

Berlin,  decree,  303  ;  Congress  of,  348. 

Berwick,  2,  182. 

Bigod,  Roger,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  60. 

Bill  of  Rights,  49,  251. 

Birmingham,  313. 

Bishops'  wars,  the,  182,  183. 

Black  Death,  the,  68,  "jt^,  74. 

Black  Prince,  69,  76. 

Black  Sea,  331. 

Blake,  Admiral,  210,  223. 

Blenheim,  battle  of,  244-246. 

Bloody  Assize,  229. 

Bliicher,  Marshal,  304. 

Boadicea,  Queen,  11. 

Boer  War,  354. 

Boers,  352-354. 

Bohun,  Humphrey,  Earl  of  Hereford, 
60. 

Boleyn,  Anne,  114,  116,  117,  120,  121, 
130,  131. 

Bolingbroke,  Henry  of,  Duke  of  Here- 
ford, 78. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  252. 

Borneo,  8. 

Boston,  275,  siege  of,  276;  evacuated 
by  the  British,  277. 

Boston  Port  Act,  276. 

Bosworth  Field,  battle  cf,  100. 

Bothwcll,  James  Hepburn,  Earl  of,  142. 

Boulogne,  240,  298. 

Bourbons,  alliance  against  the,  244. 

Boyne,  battle  of  the,  239. 

Braddock,  Gen.  Edward,  262. 

Brandywine,  battle  of,  278. 

Breda,  declaration  of,  213. 

Brentford,  190. 

Brest,  303. 


Bretigny,  peace  of,  69. 

Bright,  John,  324,  336,  339,  343,  344. 

Bright,  Clauses,  the,  344. 

Britain,  3,  8,  10-13,  16;  early  races  in, 

7. 

British  Empire,  355,  356. 

British  Museum,  49. 

Britons,  or  Brythons,  7,  10-13, 16;  de- 
scription of,  8  ;  religion  of,  9. 

Brittany,  7. 

Brook,  Lord,  180,  186. 

Brougham,  Lord  Chancellor,  315. 

Bruce,  Robert,  57. 

Bruce,  Robert  (grandson),  58,  59,  61, 
64. 

Bulgaria,  348. 

Bunker's  Hill,  battle  of,  276. 

Burgh,  Hubert  de,  47. 

Burgoyne,  Gen.,  his  campaign,  278- 
280. 

Burgundy,  108. 

Burke,  Edmund,  272,  273,  284,  285, 
289,  291;  portrait  of,  285;  Reflec- 
tions on  the  French  Revolution,  293. 

Burton,  Henry,  180. 

Bute,  Lord,  266,  268. 

Butlers,  the,  150. 

Buxton,  Sir  Fowell,  317. 

Cabot,  John,  loi. 

Cade,  Jack,  rebellion  of,  93. 

Cadiz,  146,  152. 

Caernarvon,  castle  of,  57,  60. 

Calais,  93,  132,  147,  148 ;  siege  of,  68. 

Calvin,  John,  137,  138,  181. 

Cambridge,  Duke  of,  89,  93. 

Cambridge,  Eng.,  it 6,  151. 

Camden,  Lord,  2S4.  See  Pratt, 
Charles. 

Camden,  battle  near,  281. 

Campbell,  Sir  Colin,  332. 

Campbell,  of  Glenlyon,  243. 

Campbells,  the,  243. 

Camperdown,  battle  of,  294. 

Canada,  262,  276,  278,  356;  rebellion 
in,  319  ;  Dominion  of,  321. 

Canada  Act,  the,  321. 

Canary  Islands,  loi. 

Canning,  George,  299,  30T,  302,  309, 
311,  323;  Prime  Minister,  309;  For- 
eign Secretary,  308;  portrait  of,  310. 


INDEX. 


363 


Canterbury,  or  Kentsmen's  borough, 
15,  43  ;  cathedral  at,  20  ;  Archbishop 
of,  20,  23,  27,  32,  42,  48,  69,  116, 
171,231. 

Canute,  or  Cnut,  23,  25. 

Cape  Colony,  352,  354. 

Cape  Town,  352. 

Caradoc,  or  Caractacus,  11. 

Carisbrooke  Castle,  196. 

Carlisle,  2. 

Caroline,  Queen,  wife  of  George  II., 
256. 

Caroline  of  Brunswick,  wife  of  George 
IV.,  308. 

Carthage,  10. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  297,  299,  303,  308. 

Catesby, 99. 

Catesby,  Robert,  163. 

Catholic  Association,  310 ;  Emancipa- 
tion, 311  ;  Relief  Act,  311,  328 ;  rent. 

Catholics,  English,  laws  against,  modi- 
fied, 280. 

Cavalier  Parliament,  the,  219,  226. 

Cavaliers,  216,  218,  237. 

Cawnpore,  332. 

Caxton,  William,  loi,  102. 

Cecil,  Robert,  Lord  Salisbury,  151, 
153,  162. 

Cecil,  William,  Lord  Burleigh,  130, 
135-137,  139,  142,  153;  his  death, 
151 ;  portrait  of,  152. 

Cedric,  15,  27,  38. 

Celts  (or  Kelts),  7. 

Central  America,  323. 

Ceylon,  352. 

Chalgrove  Field,  190. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  350,  354. 

Chapman,  Dr.  George,  158. 

Charles  I.,  165,  167,171-189,  191,  195- 
197,  202,  204,  218,  227;  his  marriage, 
171  ;  his  portrait,  173;  governs  with- 
out Parliament,  1 76  ;  trial  and  ex- 
ecution of,  198. 

Charles  II.,  202,  203,  213,  214,  216- 
228,  234;  recognized  king  by  the 
Scots,  202 ;  overthrown  at  Worcester, 
203 ;  his  escape,  204 ;  king  of  Eng- 
land, 216;  power  of,  216;  portrait 
of,  217;  death  of,  228. 

Charles  I.,  of  Spain,  113,  114. 


Charles  V.,  of  Spain,  no. 

Charles  Edward,  the  Young  Pretender, 

258,  260. 
Charleston,  S.  C,  attacked  by  English, 

277;  capture  of,  281. 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  222. 
Charters,  confirmation  of  the,  60 ;  the 

People's,  328. 
Chartists,  the,  328,  329. 
Chatham,  Lord,  49. 
Chatham,   Earl    of,    279.      See    Pitt, 

William. 
Chatham,  3,  222. 
Chatham-Grafton,  ministry,  272. 
Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  85  ;  portrait  of,  84. 
Chesapeake  Bay,  278,  283. 
Cheviot  Hills,  Eng.,  2. 
Christianity,   17,    18,    2r ;    introduced 

into  Britain,  12. 
Church  of  England,  20,  118,  137,  186. 
Church  rates,  abolition  of  compulsory, 

339- 
Churchill,   Lord,  afterwards   Duke  of 

Marlborough,  deserts  James  II.,  234. 

See  Marlborough. 
Cirencester,  87. 
Civil   War,   England's    policy    during 

American,  336. 
Civil   Wars,  190-200;  beginning,  188, 

189. 
Clarence,  Duke  of,  96,  107 ;  murder  of, 

97- 
Clarendon,   Earl  of,   186.     See  Hyde, 

Edward. 
Clarkson,  Thomas,  317. 
Clearances,  the  Scottish,  260;  the  Irish, 

328. 
Clement  VII.,  Pope,  115. 
Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  277,  2/8,  281-283. 
Clive,  Gen.,  264,  331. 
Clyde  River,  11,  249, 
Coalition,  the,  288. 
Cobden,  Richard,  324. 
Coke,  Sir  Edward,  174. 
Colonies,   North   American,  origin  of 

270. 
Columbus,  Christopher,  loi,  no. 
Commonwealth,  the,  202-207. 
Comyn,  58. 

Concord,  conflict  at,  276. 
Confederate  States,  336. 


3^4 


INDEX. 


Confederation,  Articles  of,  277. 
Confirmation  of  the  Charters,  60. 
Connaught,  151. 
Conservatives,  346;  overthrow  of,  348, 

349- 

Constantinople,  330. 

Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  42. 

Continental  Congress  of  1774,  276. 

Conventicle  Act,  the,  219. 

Convention,  the,  of  1689,  235. 

Copenhagen,  battle  of,  301. 

Copyhold  tenure,  74. 

Corn  Laws,  305,  325  ;  repeal  of  the,  327. 

Cornwall,  16,  108. 

Cornwallis,  281-283,  297  ;  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  297. 

Corporation  Act,  the,  219. 

Cotton  famine,  335. 

County  Clare,  election  of,  311. 

Covenanters,  the,  182. 

Cowpens,  battle  of  the,  281. 

Cranmer,  Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 116,  130,  137 ;  his  martyr- 
dom, 131. 

Cressy,  or  Cr6cy,  battle  of,  67-69,  89. 

Crimean  War,  330,  331,  346. 

Cromer,  Lord,  352. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  176,  186,  192,  198, 
200,  204,  205,  209,  214,  21?,  223  ;  his 
"Ironsides,"  191  ;  his  portrait,  192  ; 
at  Mars  ton  Moor,  193  ;  at  Newbury, 
193;  proposes  the  "New  Model," 
194;  at  Naseby,  194;  his  position 
on  religion,  195  ;  at  Preston,  197; 
Ireland,  199;  at  Dunbar,  203;  at 
Worcester,  203  ;  expels  Rump  Par- 
liament, 206;  Lord  Protector,  208- 
212  ;  his  death,  212. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  Lord  Protector, 
212. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  115,  116,  119;  his 
fall,  121. 

Crosby,  Brass,  274. 

Crown  Point,  277. 

Crystal  Palace,  330. 

Culloden,  battle  of,  260. 

Cumberland,  Duke  of,  in  Scotland,  260. 

Cymry,  8. 

Danby,  Sir  Thomas  Osborn,  Earl  of, 
225. 


Danes,  10,  14,  16,  22,  23,  29. 

Danish  fleet,  seizure  of,  301. 

Danube,  244. 

Darnley,  Lord,  140,  142. 

Dauphin,  SS,  89,  92,  93,  126,  140. 

David,  King  of  Scots,  39,  69. 

De  Burghs,  or  Burkes,  150. 

Declaration  of  Rights,  235,  236. 

Declaratory  Act,  the  (1766),  272. 

Delaware  River,  277. 

Denmark,  21,  25. 

Derby,  2,  22  ;  the  Young  Pretender  at, 
258. 

Derby,  Earl  (Lord  Stanley),  Prime 
Minister,  330;  second  ministry  of, 
333  ;  third  ministry  of,  339. 

Dermot,  Khig  of  Leinster,  43. 

Desmond, 150. 

Despenser,  or  Spenser,  61,  62. 

Dettingen,  battle  of,  258. 

Devereux,  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  151- 

153. 

Devonshire,  3. 

Dickens,  Charles,  281. 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  356. 

Dinwiddle,  Gov.,  262. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  325,  326,  330,  3^3, 
339,340,  351;  becomes  Prime  Min- 
ister, 346  ;  becomes  Earl  of  Beacons- 
field,  348. 

Dissenters,  the,  221,  224,  231,  237,  344; 
relief  of  Protestant,  312. 

Divine  right  of  kings,  theory  of,  167. 

Domesday  Book,  31. 

Donauworth,  244. 

Dover,  secret  treaty  of,  223,  224. 

Dover,  Strait  of,  3. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  145-148 ;  his  por- 
trait, 147. 

Drogheda,  149 ;  massacre  of,  199. 

Druids,  9. 

Dublin,  Ire.,  186,  199,  328,  349. 

Dudley,  Lord  Guilford,  126. 

Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick  and  Duke 
of  Northumberland,  126,  128. 

Dumfries,  Scotland,  59. 

Dunbar,  battle  of,  203,  212,  214. 

Dunkirk,  146,  211. 

Dunstan,  a  monk,  23. 

Du  Quesne,  Foit,  262. 

Durham,  Lord,  321. 


INDEX. 


365 


Dutch,  blockade  the  Thames,  222. 
Dutch  Guiana,  352. 

East  India  Company,  the  English, 
155,  275,  288. 

Economical  reform,  280. 

Edgehill,  battle  of,  190. 

Edinburgh,  16,  20,  23,  203,  258  ;  St. 
Giles  church  in,  182  ;  Scotch  Parlia- 
ment at,  247. 

Edith,  or  Maiilda,  wife  of  Henry  I.,  ;^S. 

Edmund  Ironside,  23. 

Education,  national,  344. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  25,  27,  29,  30. 

Edward  the  Elder,  23. 

Edward  I.,  51,  54,  80,  214;  proclaimed 
^i"&>  55;  conquers  Wales,  56;  his 
rule,  56-60  ;  his  death,  59. 

Edward  II,,  57,  60  ;  becomes  king, 
60  ;  his  reign,  60-62  ;  his  death,  62. 

Edward  III.,  76,  82,  86  ;  reign  of,  64- 
74  ;  war  with  Scotland,  64  ;  causes 
of  war  with  France,  66;  French 
crown,  succession  to,  66  ;  war  with 
France,  67,  68  ;  tomb  of,  70. 

Edward  IV.,  99,  107,  108  ;  proclaimed 
king,  95 ;  his  reign,  96,  97 ;  his 
death,  97. 

Edward  V.,  97,  98,  108. 

Edward  VI.,  120,  122,  125-126,  128, 
149. 

Edward  VII.,  355. 

Edwin,  King,  16. 

Egbert,  20,  22. 

Egypt,  Napoleon's  invasion  of,  294, 
295  ;  purchase  from,  347 ;  English 
in,  351,  352. 

Elba,  island  of,  303. 

Elbe  River,  303. 

Eldon,  Lord  Chancellor,  309. 

Eleanor,  Queen,  effigy  of,  44. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  173,  175,  191  ;  his  re- 
solutions, 174  ;  his  death,  176. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I.,  165. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Edward  IV.,  99. 

EHzabeth,  Queen,  102,  116,  122,  130- 
153,  155-157,  160,167,  169,  178,  207, 
340  ;  her  portrait,  134  ;  foreign  pol- 
icy of,  142 ;  plots  against,  143,  144. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  wife  of  Henry  VII., 
107. 


Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  277. 

Elizabethan  architecture,  155;  litera- 
ture, 158. 

Emmet's  rebellion,  297. 

Empire,  the  British,  355,  356. 

England,  14-20 ;  naval  stations  of,  3 ; 
Roman  ruins  in,  12;  origin  of  name, 
16;  religion  of,  17;  institutions  of, 
17  ;  land  system,  18,  341 ;  conversion 
to   Christianity,    19  ;   expansion  of, 

355- 

Ennis,  Ire.,  311. 

Enniskillen,  Ire.,  237,  238. 

Esquimax  (or  Eskimo),  6. 

Essex,  16,  77. 

Ethelbert,  King,  19. 

Ethelred,  King,  23,  25. 

Eugene,  Prince,  244,  245. 

Europe,  races  of,  7,  11,  14;  new  form 
of  government  in,  138;  Protestant 
power  in,  148  ;  Grand  Alliance  of, 
244 ;  new  calendar  in,  261  ;  Seven 
Years'  War  in,  262  ;  Napoleon  in, 
297,  298,  300-305  ;  disease  in,  325  ; 
England  the  leading  country  in,  355. 

Evesham,  54,  56. 

Exclusion  Bill,  the,  227. 

F's,  the  Three,  344. 

Factory  Act,  317. 

Fairfax,  Thomas,  Gen.,   193,  194,  195, 

197,  202. 
Falkirk,  Scotland,  58. 
Falkland,  186,  188. 
Fawkes,  Guy,  163,  164. 
Ferdinand,  King  of  Spain,  no. 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  113. 
Finn,  10. 
Finnish  race,  7. 
Firth  of  Forth,  11,  20. 
Fitz-Gerald,  Maurice,  43. 
Fitz-Gerald,  Norman,  150. 
Fitzurse,  Reginald,  43. 
Fitzwalter,  Robert,  seal  of,  54. 
Five-mile  Act,  the,  220,  221, 
Flanders,  60,  67,  loi,  H2. 
Fletcher,  Giles,  158. 
Flodden,  battle  of,  112,  114. 
Fontenoy,  battle  of,  258. 
Ford,  John,  158. 
"  Forty-five,"  the,  260. 


366 


INDEX. 


Forty-shilling  freeholders  in  England, 

95  ;  in  Ireland,  311. 
Fourteenth  century,  importance  of,  81  ; 

financial  policy  in,  82  ;  clothes,  82 ; 

foreign  commerce,   8;^ ;    the  guilds, 

84 ;  rise  of  English  language  during, 

85. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  273,  284,  286,  291, 

293 ;  India  Bill,  288-290  ;  death  of, 

299. 
Fox,  George,  211. 
Fox,  Henry,  afterwards  Lord  Holland, 

261,  268. 

France,  war  with  (14x5),  88,  89:  alli- 
ance between  America  and,  279  ; 
war  with  (1793),  293  ;  Revolution 
in,  293  ;  Napoleon  becomes  ruler  of, 
295  ;  war  with,  renewed  (1803),  298  ; 
Napoleon  leaves,  303  ;  Napoleon  re- 
turns to,  304  ;   Louis  Napoleon  in, 

33°- 
Franchise,  restricted,  95. 
Franchises,  the  Fancy,  333. 
Francis  I.,  113,  114. 
Francis  II.,  140. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  268,  286. 
Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia,  258, 

262,  264. 

Frederick,  Prince,  Elector  Palatine,  165. 
French,  the,  in  America,  262. 
French  and  Indian  War,  causes  of,  262. 
French  Alliance,  the,  279. 
French  kings,  66. 

French  revolution,  effect  of,  on  Eng- 
land, 293. 

Gaels,  or  Goidels,  7,  10. 

Gates,  General  Horatio,  278,  281. 

Gaul,  10,  II. 

Gaveston,  Piers  or  Pierce,  60,  61. 

General  warrants,  the  case  of,  268. 

Geneva  award,  337. 

George,  Elector  of  Hanover,  251.  See 
George  I. 

George  I.,  251-255  ;  portrait  of,  253  ; 
death  of,  255. 

George  II,,  255-264;  portrait  of,  259; 
death  of  264. 

George  III.,  266-307;  character  of, 
266  ;  portrait  of,  267,  306 ;  his  pol- 
icy, 266;  death,  307. 


George  IV.,  307-312;  death  of,  312. 

Georgia,  281. 

Geraldines,  the,  150. 

Germaine,  Lord  George,  283  ;  becomes 
Lord  Sackville,  284. 

Germantown,  battle  of,  278. 

Germany,  31,  114,  116,  121,  233,  264, 
3°3!  346,  356  ;  Thirty  Years'  War 
in,  199. 

Ghent,  60  ;  treaty  of,  304. 

Gibraltar,  287  ;  seizure  of,  246 ;  relief 
of,  287. 

Gilbert,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  55. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  317,  327,  334,  335, 
339,  348,  35°,  35^,  353  ',  Prime  Min- 
ister, 340,  343,  346  ;  portrait  of,  342; 
again  Prime  Minister,  349. 

Glasgow,  2,  249. 

Glencoe,  massacre  of,  242,  243. 

Gloucester,  3. 

Gloucester,  Duke  of,  yS. 

Gloucester,  Duke  of  (another),  92. 

Godfrey,  Sir  Edmondsbury,  225. 

Godwin,  Earl,  25,  27. 

Goodwin  Sands,  3. 

Gordon,  Gen.,  351  ;  death  of,  352. 

Gordon,  Lord  George,  riots,  280. 

Gordon,  Lady  Katharine,  108. 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  153. 

Goths,  55. 

Grafton,  Duke  of.  Prime  Minister,  272, 

273- 
Grand  Alliance,  244. 
Grasse,  Count  de,  283,  287. 
Grattan,  Henry,  295. 
Gray,  Thomas,  57. 
Great  Britain,  i,  2,  8,  10,  296,  303,  317, 

319,  346,  349,  35i»  354;  barroAfs  of, 

6  ;  Union  of,  with  Ireland,  297. 
Great  Fire  of  London,  221,  226. 
Green,  John  Richard,  59,  138. 
Greene,  Gen.  Nathanael,  281. 
Gregory,  Pope,  261. 
Grenville,  Lord^  Prime  Minister,  299. 
Grenville,  George,  Prime  Minister,  268  ; 

colonial  policy  of,  270,  271 ;  dismissed 

from  office,  271. 
Grey,  Earl,  Prime  Minister,  315-317. 
Grey,  Lady  Jane,  126,  130. 
Guernsey,  47. 
Guildhall,  London,  188. 


INDEX. 


367 


Guilds,  84. 

Guilford  Court-house,  battle  of,  281. 
Guinegaste,  battle  of,  112. 
Gunpowder  Plot,  162-164,  185,  234. 

Habeas  Corpus  Act,  226. 

Hadrian,  12. 

Hales,  Sir  Edward,  case  of,  230,  231. 

Halidon  Hill,  battle  of,  64. 

Hammond,  Col.,  196. 

Hampden,  John,  178,  180,  181,  185- 
187,  191  ;  death,  190. 

Hampton  Court  Conference,  165. 

Hanover,  288. 

Hanover,  House  of,  250,  258. 

Harlech  Castle,  195. 

Harold,  Earl  of  Wessex,  29,  30  ;  be- 
comes king,  27  ;  death  of,  28. 

Harold,  sumamed  Hardrada,  28. 

Harvard  College,  151. 

Haselrig,  Francis,  187. 

Hastings,  Warren,  289,  331 ;  trial  of, 
291. 

Hastings,  or  Senlac,  battle  of,  28. 

Havana,  Cuba,  266,  267. 

Havelock,  Sir  Henry,  332. 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  145,  146. 

Hengist,  14. 

Henrietta,  Maria,  wife  of  Charles  I., 
171. 

Henry  of  Huntingdon,  25. 

Henry,  son  of  James  I.,  165. 

Henrj-  IV..  of  France,  230. 

Henry  I.,  34,  yj  \  crowned,  38;  his 
rule,  31-38. 

Henry  II.,  40  ;  reign  of,  41-45  ;  effigy 
of,  44;  death,  45. 

Henry  III.,  52,  80 ;  his  death,  55. 

Henry  of  Lancaster,  'jZ,  79,  93,  94, 171, 
claims  the  throne,  80  ;  crowned  as 
Henry  IV.,  80;  his  reign,  86,  87; 
death,  87. 

Henry  V.,  92,  93  ;  becomes  king,  87 ; 
his  reign,  87-89  ;  death,  89. 

Henry  VI.,  92,  94-96  ;  his  death,  97, 

Henry  VII.,  98-101,  105,  107-109,  112, 
149,  162;  marriage,  107;  death,  log. 

Henry  VIII.,  109-122,  125,  126,  128, 
130,  133,  149,  157  ;  the  Spanish  mar- 
riage, 1 10  ;  portrait  of,  1 1 1 ;  war  with 
France,  and  with  Scotland,  112  ;  and 


Francis  I.,  113;  divorce  from  Kath- 
arine, 114. 

Herbert,  Admiral,  Lord  Torrington, 
233»  240. 

Herkimer,  General,  278. 

High  Commission,  Court  of,  144,  235. 

HiJchstadt,  244. 

Holland,  223-225,  233,  234,  240,  298, 
303,  352  ;  war  with,  209,  210. 

Holies,  Denzil,  175,  187. 

Holmby  House,  196. 

Holy  Grail,  the,  15. 

Holy  Land,  45. 

Hooper,  Bishop,  131. 

Horsa,  14. 

House  of  Commons,  origin  of,  71 ; 
loses  much  strengtii,  103 ;  acts  with- 
out king  or  peers,  198 ;  expelled  by 
Cromwell,  206;  restored  by  army 
officers,  212  ;  Scots  in,  248  ;  demands 
for  members  of,  329. 

House  of  Lords,  old  nobility  disappears 
in,  103  ;  Scots  in,  248  ;  Irish  in,  297. 

House  of  Peers,  origin  of,  71  ;  land- 
lords strong  in,  319. 

Howard,  Lord  of  Effingham,  146, 152. 

Howard,  Katharine,  121. 

Howard,  Thomas,  Earl  of  Surrey,  1 14. 

Howards,  the,  114,  122. 

Howe,  Gen.,  277,  278,  280. 

Hudson  River,  277,  278. 

Huguenots,  the,  143. 

Humber  River,  16. 

Hundred,  the,  18. 

Hundred  Years'  War,  93. 

Hunt,  Mr.,  "  Orator,"  306. 

Huskisson,  Mr.,  323. 

Hutchinson,  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, 275. 

Hyde,  Edward,  Earl  of  Clarendon, 
186,  216,  222. 

Hyde  Park,  London,  330. 

Iberian  (or  Ivemian),  7. 

leme   i,  7. 

Income  tax,  the,  324. 

Indemnity  and  Oblivion,  Act  of  (i66o), 

218. 
Independence,    American    Declaration 

of,  277. 
"  Independents,"  the,  195,  202. 


368 


INDEX. 


India,  loi,  no,  264,  268,  288,  289, 
291,  294,  301,  331,  332,  348,  351, 
352. 

Ireland,  Poynings'  Law,  149;  Estab- 
lished church  of,  149;  rebellion  in, 
150;  English  settlement  of,  150; 
Strafford  in,  182;  rebellion  in  (1641), 
186;  Cromwellian  settlement  of, 
199;  condition  of,  in  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 295 ;  rebellion  in,  296  ;  Union 
with  Great  Britain,  297  ;  famine  in, 
325,  327;  rebellion  in  (1848),  328; 
Young,  306;  Established  church  of, 
disestablished,  340;  land  system  of, 

341-343- 
Irish   Land   Acts,   349;    (1870),    340; 

(1881),  344. 
Irishmen,  the  United,  296. 
Indian,  American,  8. 
Indiana,  i. 
Indulgence,  Declaration  of  (1672),  224; 

(1688),  231. 
Instrument  of  government,  206,  208. 
Inverary,  Scotland,  243. 
Invincible  Armada,  the,   146-148,  151, 

311- 
Irish,  the,  61. 
Ironsides,  the,  191,  193,  197,  199,  203, 

209,  211,  214. 
Isabella,  Queen  of  Spain,  no. 
Italy,  7. 

Jacobite  Plot,  the  (1715),  252; 
(i72i),252;  rising,  the  (i745)»  258. 

Jacobites,  240;  origin  of  the  name,  234. 

Jamaica,  210,  319;  bill,  321,  322. 

James  I.,  108,  139,  140,  160-169,  '^11 1 
182,247;  his  character,  160;  perse- 
cuted the  Puritans,  165;  his  portrait, 
166;  his  theory  of  "divine  right," 
167;  his  death,  169. 

James  II.,  81,  222,  225-228,  230-234, 
237,  240,  241  ;  becomes  king,  228 ; 
runs  away,  234  ;  death  of,  244. 

James  IV.,  King  of  Scotland,  108,  112. 

James  VI.,  of  Scotland.  See  James  I., 
of  England. 

James  Stuart,  the  Pretender,  252. 

Jameson  Raid,  354. 

Jay,  John,  286. 

Jeffreys,  Chief  Justice,  229. 


Jenkins's  ears,  256. 

Jersey,  47. 

Jerusalem,  45. 

Jesuits,  232. 

Jews,  214;  admitted  to  Parliament,  Tflil- 

Jingo  policy,  348. 

Joan  of  Arc,  92,  93. 

John,    45,  49,   52 ;  crowned,  47  ;  loses 

Normandy,    47  ;     the   interdict,    48 ; 

submits  to  the  Pope,  48;  his  death, 

50,  51. 
John,  King  (of  France),  69. 
Jonson,  Ben,  157. 
Joyce,  Officer,  196. 
Julius  Caesar,  11,  261. 
Jutes,  14,  21. 
Jutland,  14. 

Katharine,   of    Arragon,    no,    112, 

1T4-117,  140. 
Katharine  of  France,  89. 
Kent,  or  Cantium,  15,  'j'j^  93. 
Keppel,  Admiral,  280,  284. 
Khartum,  351,  352, 
Kildare,  150. 
Kimberly,  354. 
Kimbolton,  Lord,  186. 
King's  Friends,  273,  289. 
King's  Mountain,  battle  of,  281. 
Kitchener,  Lord,  352. 
Knox,  John,  181. 

La  Hogue,  67;  battle  of,  241. 

Laborers,  statute  of,  74. 

Ladysmith,  354. 

Lafayette,  281-283. 

Lake,  General,  296. 

Lancashire,  197. 

Lancaster,   John  of  Gaunt,  Duke  of, 

79,  99- 

Lancaster  and  York,  claims  of,  90. 

Lancasters  and  Tudors,  claims  of,  99. 

Lancastrians,  the,  94,  96. 

Lanfranc,  Archbishop,  32,  34,  36. 

Langton,  Stephen,  48,  50. 

Latimer,  Bishop,  131. 

Laud,  William,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, 174,  177,  178,  180-186;  his  re- 
actionary policy,  177  ;  death,  191. 

Lee,  Gen.  Charles,  280. 

Leicester,  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of,  151. 


INDEX. 


369 


Leinster,  43. 

Leipzig,  battle  of,  303. 

Lenthall,  William,  187. 

Lewes,  53, 

Lexington,  conflict  at,  276. 

Liberals,  31 8,  327,  330,  3^2^  334,  339, 

340,  346,  349- 
Ligny,  battle  at,  304. 
Lincolnshire,  193. 
Lisbon,  146. 

Liverpool,  Lord,  Prime  Minister,  309. 
Liverpool,  2,  249,  335. 
Lizard  Head,  3. 

Llewelyn,  Prince  of  Wales,  56. 
Lollards,  73,  S7,  88. 
London,  situation  of,   2,  3  ;  Bridge,  2, 

221;    plundered,  93;  mob  in,    196; 

confusion   in,    258 ;    riots    in,   281 ; 

citizens  of,  enlisted,  329. 
London,   Tower  of,   58,  97,    164,  169; 

Raleigh  prisoner   in,  158,  162;  plan 

to  seize,  306. 
Londonderry,  Ire.,  237;  siege  of,  238. 
Long   Parliament,   the,  180,   183,  204, 

213,  216. 
Lorraine,  92. 
Louis,  Prince,  50. 
Louis  XL,  97. 
Louis  XIV.,   223,    230,  233,  234,  237, 

239-241,  244. 
Louis  XVI.,  303. 
Louis  XVIII.,  303,  304. 
Louisburg,  the  capture  of  (1745),  261. 
Louisiana,  262,  287. 

Lovel,  ,  99. 

Luddites,  30',. 

Luther,  Martin,  ii6,  138. 

Macau  LAY,  Thomas  Babington,  Lord, 

171,  316. 
Macdonald,  Flora,  260. 
Macdonalds,  the,  242,  243. 
Maclan,  Ian,  242,  243. 
Mafeking,  354. 

Magna  Charta,  49,  50,  52,  226. 
Maintenance,  right  of,  87. 
Major-Generals,  the,  209. 
Majuba  Hill,  battle  of,  353. 
Malta,  seized  by  Napoleon,  294. 
Malvern  Hill,  282. 
Manchester,  155,  335. 


24 


Manchester  massacre,  306,  307. 

Mantes,  34. 

Margaret,  Queen,  96,  97. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  93. 

Margaret,  wife  of  James  IV.,  of  Scot- 
land, 108,  122,  160. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  244-246. 

Marlowe,  Christopher,   157. 

Marshall,  William,  Earl  of  Pembroke, 
52. 

Marston  Moor,  battle  of,  193,  194. 

Martinique,  287. 

Marvell,  Andrew,  198. 

Mary  I.,  117,  122,  126-133,  135,  140, 
149;  portrait  of,  129;  marries  Philip 
II.  of  Spain,  128;  the  martyrs,  130; 
her  death,  131. 

Mary,  Princess,  of  Orange,  227,  232, 
235.     See  also  William  and  Mary, 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  108,  125,  139- 
144,  160 ;  her  claims  to  English 
throne,  140;  marriage,  140;  her  por- 
trait, 141  ;  e.xecuted,  145. 

Mary,  sister  of  Henry  VIII.,  122,  126. 

Massachusetts,  165,  209,  261,  275; 
charter  of,  276. 

Massachusetts  Government-Act,  276. 

Massinger,  Philip,  158. 

Maud,  or  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry 
I.,  38,  40;  marriage,  39. 

Mediterranean  Sea,  246,  294. 

Medway  (river)  3,  222. 

Meerut,  massacre  near,  332. 

Melbourne,  Lord,  317-319,  322. 

Mercia,  16,  22. 

Merrimack  River,  16;. 

Mersey  River,  249. 

Methodist,  rise  of  the,  256. 

Middlesex,  15;  elections,  273. 

Mildmay,  Sir  Walter,  151. 

Milton,  John,  207  ;  portrait  of,  205. 

Ministry,  formation  of  a,  252. 

Mississippi  River,  267,  286,  2S7. 

Mohawk  Valley,  278. 

Monasteries,  dissolution  of,  118  ;  effect 
of,  119. 

Monk,  General,  212 ;  declares  for  a 
free  Parliament,  213. 

Monmouth,  Duke  of,  227,  23c  ;  rebel- 
lion of,  228. 

Monmouth,  battle  of,  279,  280. 


370 


INDEX. 


Monroe  doctrine,  309. 
Montague,  Ralph,  225. 

Montgomery, ,  277. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  116,  118. 
Mortimer,  Earl,  61,  62,  64. 
Mortimer,  Edmund,  Earl  of  March,  86, 

89,  93- 
Mosaic  Ministry,  272. 
Mounteagle,  Lord,  163,  164. 
Munster,  151. 
Mutiny  Bill,  the,  236. 

Nantes,  Revocation  of  Edict  of,  230. 
Napoleon,  294,  295,  297-304,  329,  352  ; 

marriage  of,  300 ;  abdication,   303  ; 

return  of,  304;  death,  305. 
Napoleon,  Louis,  329,  330,  332,  233- 
Naseby,  195  ;  battle  of,  194. 
Navigation  Laws,  216  ;  repeal  of,  330. 
Navigation  Ordinance,  209,  210. 
Neckar,  the  (river),  244. 
Nelson,  Admiral,  295  ;  death  of,  298  ; 

portrait  of,  300. 
Netherlands,  143,  146,  148. 
Nevil's  Cross,  battle  of,  68,  69. 
Neville  family,  96. 
New  England,  18,  139,  218,  220,  222, 

270,  278. 
New  Forest,  32,  37. 
New  Jersey,  277. 
New  Model  army,  194,  195. 
New  Orleans,  La.,  268. 
New  Style,  261. 
New  York,  222. 

New  York  City,  277-279,  281,  283. 
Newbury,  battle  of,  193. 
Newcastle,    Duke    of,    258,    262-264 ; 

Prime  Minister,  262  ;  coalition  with 

Pitt,  263  ;  retired,  266. 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  2. 
Newfoundland,  321. 
Newport,  R.  L,  2S1-283. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  242. 
Nicholas,  Czar  of  Russia,  300,  302,  330, 

33^  346. 
Nightingale,  Florence,  331. 
Nile,  battle  of  the,  295. 
Nonconformists,  221,  232. 
Nonjurors,  237. 
Nore,  mutiny  at  the,  294. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  311. 


Norman  Conquest,  effects  of,  30. 

Norman  kings,  27- 

Normandy,  21,  27,  29,  34,  36,  67  ;  con- 
quered, 2^. 

Normans,  10,  16,  28,  29,  30,  32,  43. 

North,  Lord,  272,  280,  289 ;  Prime 
Minister,  273  ;  plan  of  reconciliation 
with  America,  279 ;  fall  of,  283, 
284  ;  coalition  with  Fox,  2S8,  290. 

North  America,  146,  267,  287. 

North  American  Colonies,  270. 

North  Briton,  the,  268. 

North  Carolina.  281. 

Northmen,  or  Norsemen,  21. 

Northumbria,  16,  22. 

Norway,  25. 

Nottingham,  189. 

Oates,  Titus,  225,  226,  228. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  310,  311,  328. 

Ohio  River,  262,  264,  276. 

Old  Sarum,  314. 

Oliver,  Alderman,  274. 

Opposition,    the,    274,    280,    284,   299, 

316,  322,  330,  233- 
Orange  Free  State,  354. 
Orangemen,  Society  of,  296. 
Orders  in  Council,  303. 
Orleans,  92. 
Ormond,  150. 
Orsini,  332. 
Oxford,  53,  190;  college,  52. 

Pacific  Ocean,  252. 

Pains  and  Penalties,  Bill  of,  308. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  329,  330,  332,  333, 
335.336;  Prime  Minister,  331,  334; 
death  of,  337. 

Paris,  29,  47,  67,  294  ;  peace  at  (1763), 
267,  304  ;  treaty  at  (1783),  287  ;  peace 
at  (1856),  331,  346. 

Parker,  Sir  Peter,  277. 

Parliament,  first  legal,  59 ;  separation 
into  two  houses,  71  ;  loses  power, 
103;  dissolved,  169,  211,  290;  comes 
together,  174 ;  short,  183 ;  raises  an 
army,  190 ;  Rump,  204  ;  closes  port 
of  Boston,  275 ;  representation  in, 
313;  reformed,  316;  Jews  admitted 
to,  233  '■>  acts  change,  345. 

Parma,  Duke  of,  146. 


INDEX. 


371 


Parr,  Katharine,  121. 

Paterson,  241. 

Peasants'  Revolt,  76. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  309-311,  316-318, 
322-326,  329;  Prime  Minister,  ^2, 
323  ;  portrait  of,  326  ;  fall  of,  327, 

Peelites,  the,  327,  330. 

Pelhaiii,  Henry,  258,  262. 

Pelhams,  the,  280. 

Pembroke,  197. 

Peninsular  War,  301. 

Penn,  Admiral,  seizes  Jamaica,  210. 

Penn,  William,  210. 

Pennines,  2. 

Pennsylvania,  i,  210. 

Penruddock,  John,  208. 

Penry,  John  (Martin  Mar-Prelate  ?),I45. 

Pepys,  Samuel,  213. 

Perceval,  Spencer,  Prime  Minister,  299. 

Perche,  Countess  of,  39. 

Peter  the  Great,  330. 

Peterloo,  307. 

Petition  and  Advice,  the,  210. 

Petition  of  Right,  49,  172,  174,  182. 

Petre,  Father,  234. 

Piiiladelphia,  276,  278 ;  evacuation  of, 
279. 

Philip  Augustus,  King,  43,  45,  47,  48, 
66,  67. 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  128,  129,  131,  132, 
135,  140,  142,  143,  145,  146,  148. 

Philippa,  Queen,  68. 

Phcenicians,  10. 

Picts,  ir,  12,  13. 

Pitt,  William,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham, Paymaster  of  the  Forces,  261- 
264,  266,  26S,  273,  279,  286 ;  portrait 
of,  263 ;  coalition  with  Newcastle, 
263  :  resigns,  266 ;  becomes  Elarl  of 
Chatham,  272  ;  death,  279. 

Pitt,  William,  (the  younger),  286,  292, 
293  ;  Prime  Minister,  2S9 ;  financial 
policy  of,  291;  portrait  of,  290; 
India  Bill,  290 ;  repressive  policy  of, 
293,  294  ;  resignation  of,  297 ;  death 
of,  299. 

Pittsburg,  262. 

Plague,  the,  220 

*•  Plan  of  Campaign,"  349,  350. 

Plantagenet,  Geoffrey,  Count  of  Anjou, 
39- 


Plantagenets,  the,  51,  94. 

Plassey,  264. 

Plymouth,  Eng.,  3. 

Pocket  boroughs,  314, 

Poitiers,  battle  of,  69. 

Pole,  William  dela.  Earl  of  Suffolk,  93. 

Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth,  157. 

Popish  plot,  225. 

Portsmouth,  Eng.,  3,  176. 

Portugal,  301. 

Poynings'  Law,  149. 

Praemunire,  statute  of,  73. 

Pratt,  Charles,  later  Lord  Camden, 
269,  272,  273, 

Press,  Liberty  of  the,  242. 

Preston,  2  ;  battle  of,  197,  203. 

Preston  Pans,  battle  of,  258. 

Pretender,  the  Old,  born,  232,  244,  258. 

Pride,  Col.,  197. 

Pride's  Purge,  197,  199,  204,  212. 

Printing,  discovery  of,  loi. 

Privy  Council,  230. 

Protection,  overthrow  of,  323. 

Protectionists,  the,  323,  327. 

Protectorate,  the,  208-215. 

Protest  the  Great,  169. 

Prussia,  258,  293. 

Prynne,  William,  177,  178,  180,  r8i, 
185. 

Puritans,  the,  135,  138,  139,  144,  145, 
177,  184,  188,  198,  199,206,  218-220, 
247;  under  Elizabeth,  137;  emigra- 
tion to  New  England,  139,  181; 
under  James,  165  ;  ideas  of  the,  214, 
215. 

Pym,  John,  188;  impeaches  Strafford, 
184  ;  ideas  on  religion,  186  ;  attempt 
to  arrest,  187  ;  seeks  aid  of  the  Scots, 
190  ;  his  death,  191. 

Pyrenees,  302. 

Pytheas,  10. 

Quakers,  or  Friends,  17. 
Quebec  Act,  276. 

Quebec,  264,  276  ;  attacked  by  Ameri- 
cans, 277. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,   158,   162;  his 

portrait,  161  ;  his  death,  162. 
Raleigh,  Walter,  son,  portrait  of,  161. 
Ratcliffe, ,  99. 


372 


INDEX. 


Ratisbon,  246. 

Reforna  Act,  of  1832,  causes  of,  313  ; 

First,  315,316;  Second,  339;  Third, 

316,  345- 
Reformation,  119,  120,  126,  130,  177. 
Regency,   the,  question,    271,  291  ;   of 

1810-1820,  307. 
Regicides,  the,  218. 
Remonstrance,    the   Grand,    186,    191, 

20S. 
Responsible    government,     origin     of 

237- 
Restoration,  the,  213,  216. 
Rhine,  244. 
Rhodes,  Cecil,  353. 
Rhodesia,  353,  354. 
Richard  of  Clare,  43. 
Richard  of  Gloucester,  97. 
Richard,  Duke  of  York,  94,  95  ;  claims 

the  throne,  93. 
Richard,  Duke  of  York  (another),  98. 
Richard  I.,   47,   49;  crowned,  45  ;  his 

place  in  history,  46. 
Richard  II.,  81,  86,  94,  101;  his  reign, 

76-79,  abdicates,  79 ;  death,  87. 
Richard  III.,  98  ;  crowned,  98  ;  reign, 

98-100;  death,  100. 
Richelieu,  Cardinal,  172. 
Ridley,  Bishop,  131. 
Riot  Act,  252. 
Robert,   Duke  of   Normandy,  34,  36, 

38  ;  prisoner  for  life,  38. 
Rochambeau,  Marquis,  282,  283. 
Rochelle,     attempt    to    relieve,     172, 

176. 
Rockingham,    Marquis    of,    272,   284, 

285,  296;  death  of,  286. 
Rodney,  Admiral,  287. 
Rollo,  or  Rolf,  29. 
Roman   Catholic  Church,  influence  of, 

32. 
Roman  Empire,  11. 
Roman  Walls,  11. 
Romans,  8,  11,  12,  15-17. 
Rome,  11,71,115,120;  capture  of,  13  ; 

Pope  of,  29,  32,  42,  48,    50,  52,  53, 

118,  143. 
Rooke,  Admiral,  246. 
Roses,  Wars  of  the,  87,  94,  loi,  127. 
Rothschild,  Baron,  333. 
Rouen,  zg,  39,  89. 


Royalists,  197,  204,  209,  210,  213,  218, 
219,  294. 

Rump  Parliament,  the,  199,  204;  ex- 
pelled by  Cromwell,  206  ;  restored, 
212. 

Runnymede,  49. 

Rupert,  Prince,  193,  210-212. 

Russell,  Admiral,  240. 

Russell,  Lord,  227. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  334-336,  339  ;  in- 
troduces first  Reform  Bill,  315; 
Prime  Minister,  327,  329,  330,  337  ; 
portrait  of,  334;  becomes  Earl 
Russell,   337. 

Russia,  155,  303,  331,  346,  348. 

Rye-house  plot,  227. 

Ryswick,  Peace  of,  241,  244. 

Sahara,  the,  351,  352. 
St.  Germain  (palace),  244. 
St.  Helena,  Napoleon  at,  305. 
St.  Lawrence  River,  264. 
St.  Leger,  278. 
St.  Peter's  Fields,  307. 
St.  Vincent,  Cape,  297. 
Salic  law,  66. 

Salisbury,    Lord,    349-351)     354;    be- 
comes  Prime   Minister,   352. 
Salisbury,  Eng.,9,  208  ;  cathedral  at,  55. 
Salisbury,  oath  of,  31. 
San  Domingo,  210. 
Saratoga,  282  ;  surrender  at,  278. 
Sark,  47. 

Savannah,  Ga.,  281. 
Sawtre,  William,  86. 
Saxons,  15. 

Say  and  Sele,  Lord,  180. 
Saybrook,  Conn.,  180. 
Schomberg,  Frederick  Herman,  Gen., 

239- 

Schuyler,  Philip,  278. 

Schuylkill  River,  278. 

Scilley  Isles,  3. 

Scone,  Stone  of,  58. 

Scotland,  claimants  for  crown,  57-59  ; 
war  in,  125,  126,  203,  260;  church 
in,  181;  massacre  in,  243;  united 
with    England,   247;    population  of, 

350- 
Scots,  the,   early,  11-13;  invade  Eng- 
land, 64,  197  ;  queen  of,  140  ;  leaders 


INDEX. 


373 


secure    aid    of,    190;    invite   Prince 

Charles  to  be  king,  202. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  18,  19,  46,  58,  158, 

209,  214,  260. 
Scottish  Highlanders,  7. 
Scottish  kings,  57. 
Scottish  Kirk,  the,  181. 
Scottish  national  covenant,  1S2. 
Sebastopol,  siege  of,  331. 
Sedgmoor,  battle  of,  228. 
Seine  River,  67. 
Self-denying  Ordinance,  194. 
Senlac,  28,  29. 
Sepoy  mutiny,  ^y.,  332. 
Septennial  Act,  252. 
Settlement,  Act  of,  251. 
Seven  Bishops,  the,  231 ;  acquittal  of, 

232. 
Seven  Years'  War,  262,  284. 
Severn,  3. 

Severus,  Emperor,  12. 
Seymour,  Jane,  120. 
Seymour,  William,  162. 
Seymours,  the,  122,  125, 
Shakspere,  William,  87,  89,  135,  157; 

portrait  of,  136. 
Sheerness,  Eng.,  222. 
Sheffield,  155. 
Shelbume,  Lord,   266,  272,   284,   286, 

288. 
Sheridan,  R.  B,  B.,  289. 
Short  Parliament,  183. 
Shrewsbury,  3. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  158. 
Simnel,  Lambert,  107. 
Simon  of  Montfort,  56 ;  his  parliament, 

50,  53i  54,  59;  death,  54. 
Six  Articles,  Act  of  the,  120,  121. 
Slaves,  emancipation  of,  317. 
Sluys,  67. 
Smith,  Adam,  290. 
Solway  Firth,  12. 

Somerset,  Lord  Protector,  125,'!  26. 
Somme  River,  67. 
Sophia,  Electress,  of  Hanover,  251. 
Soudan,  351,  352. 
South  Africa,  351-354. 
South  America,  162,  252,  323. 
South  Carolina,  281. 
South  Kensington  Museum,  330. 
South-Sea  bubble,  252-254. 


Southampton,  Eng.,  3. 

Spa  Fields,  305. 

Spain,  war  with  (173Q),  256-258;  re- 
sistance of,  to  Napoleon,  279,  301 ; 
rising  in,  in  1820,  309. 

Specie  payments,  suspended,  294. 

Spencer,  Earl,  315. 

Spenser,  Edmund,  158. 

Spitalfields,  London,  230. 

Spithead,  mutiny  at,  294. 

Stamp  Act,  the,  passed,  271 ;  repealed, 
272. 

Stanley,  Lord,  100. 

Stanley,  Lord,  316,  326.  See  Derby, 
Earl  of. 

Stanwix,  Fort,  278. 

Star  Chamber,  178,  180,  185  ;  court  of, 
108. 

Stark,  Gen.  John,  278. 

Stephen,  39,  40. 

Steuben,  General,  278. 

Stirling  Castle,  61. 

Stonehenge,  9,  10. 

Stuart  rising,  the  (1745),  258. 

Strafford,  Thomas  Wentworth,  Earl  of, 
182,  183,  186,  191  ;  impeachment  of, 
184;  attainder  and  execution  of,  1S4, 
185. 

Straw,  Jack,  77. 

Strode, ,  187. 

Stuart,  Lady  Arabella,  162. 

Stuarts,  the,  170,  213,  260. 

Succession  Act  of,  251. 

Suez  Canal,  347,  351,  352. 

Sully,  Maximilian  de  B6thune,  Duke 
of,  160. 

Sussex,  15. 

Sutherland,  Duke  of,  260. 

Sweden,  25. 

Swend,  or  Swegen,  King,  23. 

Switzerland,  218. 

Sydney,  Algernon,  227. 

Talavera,  battle  of,  301. 
Tamworth,  Manifesto,  318. 
Tarleton,  Colonel,  281. 
Tea  Party,  the  Boston,  275. 
Tel-el-Kebir,  battle  of,  351. 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  15. 
Test  Act,  224,  230. 
Tewkesbury,  97. 


374 


INDEX. 


Thames,  2,   3,  14,  49,  188,  222,  233, 

294. 
"  Thorough,"  government  of,  182,  227. 
Thurlow,  Lord  Chancellor,  284. 
Ticonderoga,  277. 
Toleration  Act,  237. 
Torbay,  Devonshire,  234. 
Tories,  233,  310;  origin  of  the  name, 

227. 
Torres  Vedras,  lines  of,  301,  302. 
Toulouse,  surrender  of  French  at,  302. 
Townshend,  Charles,  Chancellor  of  the 

Exchequer,  272  ;  introduces  bills  to 

tax  colonial  imports,  272. 
Townshend  duties,  the,  274. 
Towton,  96. 

Trafalgar,  battle  of,  298. 
Transvaal,  353. 
Trelawney,  Bishop,  232. 
Trench,  Stuart,  327. 
Trenton,  surprise  of   British  outposts 

at,  277,  279. 
Troyes,  Treaty  of,  89. 
Tudors,  the,  123. 
Tudors,    Lancasters    and,    claims    of, 

99. 
Turenne,  Gen.,  211. 
Turkey,  330,  331,  348. 
Tweed  River,  2. 
Tyburn  Hill,  171. 
Tyler,  Wat,  76,  T],  88. 
Tyne  River,  12. 
Tyrrel,  Wat,  37. 

Ulm,  246  ;  capitulation  of,  299. 
Ulster  custom,  343. 
Uniformity,  Act  of,  137,  220. 
Union  with  Ireland,  Act  of,  297. 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  248, 

297,  340,  345>  356. 
United  States,  270,  287,  309,  321,  335, 
346,  353>  355»  356  ;  independence  of, 
acknowledged,  286  ;  treaty  with,  286  ; 
war  with,    303  ;   Geneva  award  to, 

337. 
Utrecht,  treaty  of,  246,  247. 

Vaal  River,  353. 
Valentine,  175. 
Valley  Forge,  camp  at,  278. 
Van  Tromp,  Admiral,  210. 


Vane,  Sir  Henry,  introduces  the  Navi- 
gation Ordinance,  209  ;  executed,  218. 

Versailles,  treaty  of,  287. 

Victoria,  Queen,  318-356  ;  becomes 
queen,  319;  marriage,  319;  portrait 
of,  320  ;  becomes  Empress  of  India, 
348;  death  of,  355. 

Vienna,  304  ;  Congress  at,  303,  304. 

Villeinage,  abolition  of,  102. 

Villiers,  George,  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
167,  171-174,  182  ;  his  murder,  176. 

Vikings,  21. 

Vinegar  Hill,  battle  of,  296. 

Virginia,  219,  262,  281,  283. 

Vittoria,  battle  of,  302. 

Volunteers,  the  Protestant,  295. 

Vortigern,  14. 

Wagstaff,  Thomas,  208. 
Wakefield,  94. 

Wales,  3,  4,  16,  52  ;  united  to  England, 
-j^Z-^  conquered,   56;   Prince  of,    56, 

94,  97. 

Wallace,  Sir  William,  58. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  280  ;  Prime  Min- 
ister, First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
254-258  ;  his  policy,  254 ;  portrait 
of,  257. 

Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  142,  151. 

War  of  1 812,  303,  304. 

Warbeck,  Perkin,  108. 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  61,  96,  97. 

Washington,  George,  Commander-in- 
chief,  262,  276-278,  281-283. 

Waterloo,  campaign  of,  304,  323,  352. 

Wedmore,  Treaty  of,  22. 

Wellesley,  Arthur,  Duke  of  Wellington, 
301.     See  Wellington. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  302-304,  310, 
3i^»  315-317,  322,  323,  329;  por- 
trait, 302  ;  becomes  Prime  Minister, 

309- 
Welsh,  8,  23,  50,  56. 
Wesley  brothers,  256. 
Wessex,  15,  20,  22,  25. 
West  Goths,  13. 
West  Indies,  146,  270. 
West  Point,  282. 
Westminster  Abbey,  27,  38,  55,  89,  95, 

98,  162,  279,  299. 
Westminster  Hall,  34. 


INDEX. 


375 


Weston,  treasurer,  176-178,  182. 
Whigs,  232,  233,  272,  280,  284,  285, 

315  ;  origin  ot  the  name,  227. 
Whitby,  22. 

White'piains,  battle  of,  277. 
White  Ship,  the  story  of  the,  38. 
White  Tower,  32. 
Whitehall,  palace,  188,  198. 
Wight,  Isle  of,  3,  196,  294. 
W'ilberforce,  William,  317. 
Wilkes,  John,  268-271,  273,  274. 
William,  son  of  Henry  I.,  death,  ;^S,  39. 
William,  the  Red  King,  34. 
William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  28,  30, 

27,  38,  42,  43,  48  ;  claim  to  throne, 

29  ;  conquers  England,  29  ;  his  rule, 

31,  32;  character,  32;  death,  34. 
William  of  Orange,  224,  232,  233-236, 

296 ;  marries  Mary  of  England,  224  ; 

lands  at  Torbay,  233,  234. 
William  II.,  34;  called  the  Red,  36; 

his  rule,  36;  death,  37. 
William  III.,  and  Mary  II.,  236-244  ; 

portraits  of,  238,  239  ;  foreign  policy 

of,  240-244 ;   death  of   Mary,   243 ; 

death  of  William,  244. 
WUliam  IV.,  312-318  ;  death  of,  318. 


Williamsburg,  282. 

Wilmington,  N.  J.,  281. 

Winceby  Fight,  193. 

Winchester,  31,  37. 

Windsor,  49. 

"Wise  Men,"  19,  27-29;  meeting  of, 

30- 
Witenagemot,  ig. 
Wolfe,  Gen.,  264. 
Wolseley,  Lord,  351. 
Wolsey,   Cardinal,   113-115;    his   fall, 

115,  121. 
Woodstock,  130. 
Woodville,  Elizabeth,  96. 
Worcester,  3 ;  battle  of,  203,  204,  212, 

214. 
Wycliffe,  John,  y^. 

York,    James,    Duke   of,   222.      Sec 

James  II. 
York,  Lancaster  and,  claims  of,  90. 
York,  2,  107,  193  ;  Archbishop  of,  43, 

69,  113. 
Yorkists,  94,  99. 
Yorkshire,  68. 

Yorktown,  282,  287  ;  capture  of,  283. 
"  Young  Ireland,"  party  of,  328. 


Longmans t  Green,  S*  Go's  Publications, 
Higginson — Young  Folks'  History  of  the  United  States. 

By  Thomas  Wentworth  HiGginson.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations, 
an  Appendix  covering  a  List  of  Books  for  Consultation,  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  Chronological  Table,  Index,  and  a  Series  of  Ques- 
tions.    i2mo.     433  pages.     $i.oo.* 

%*  "  '  Higginson's  Young  Folks'  History  of  the  United  States'  (to  the 
end  of  Chapter  XXI.)  will  serve  to  indicate  the  amount  of  knowledge 
demanded  for  entrance  to  college  in  United  States  History." 

[Extract  from  T/ie  Harvard  University  Catalogue^ 

This  book  is  in  use  in  all  the  Grammar  Schools  of  the  city  of  Boston, 
and  the  Public  Schools  of  New  London,  Conn.;  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.;  Ogdens- 
burg,  N.  Y. ;  Lawrence,  Mass.;  Maiden,  Mass.;  Cambridge,  Mass.;  Ded- 
ham,  Mass.;  Hamilton,  Ohio;  Passaic,  N.  J.;  West  Toledo,  Ohio;  in  the 
Friends'  School,  Wilmington,  Del.;  Straight  University,  New  Orleans,  La.; 
and  many  other  institutions  throughout  the  country. 

The  distinctive  character  of  the  book  is  that  it  sets  before  the  mind  of 
the  student  a  clear  idea  of  what  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  been 
from  their  first  settlement  on  this  continent  to  the  present  day.  Names  and 
dates  are  not  considered  by  the  author  to  be  of  importance,  save  in  so  far  as 
they  serve  to  make  fully  definite  the  thread  of  connected  incident. 

Again,  less  than  the  usual  space  is  devoted  to  the  events  of  war,  and 
more  to  the  affairs  of  peace.  In  this  manner,  two  of  the  main  objections  to 
a  condensed  school  history  of  the  United  States  are  obviated,  and  the  mind 
of  the  youthful  student,  instead  of  being  burdened  with  dry  chronological 
tables,  lists  of  names,  and  statistics  of  battles  and  sieges,  gains  a  clear 
and  philosophical  view  of  the  causes  which  have  produced  our  American 
civilization. 

The  author  does  not  consider  it  beneath  the  dignity  of  history  to  enliven 
his  narrative  with  illustrative  traits  and  incidents  taken  from  the  daily  life  of 
the  people. 

The  book  is  a  history  of  the  people  themselves  in  their  normal  state  of 
peace,  their  development  into  an  independent  nation,  their  progress  in  all 
the  arts  of  life,  their  struggles  with  nature  in  reclaiming  the  wilderness  as  a 
habitation  for  man,  and  their  striving  toward  a  higher  and  nobler  form  of 
social  and  political  constitution — these  points  are  on  every  page  of  the 
history  made  salient,  literary  skill  being  added  to  profound  original  research. 

Higginson — Young  Folks'  Book  of  American  Explorers. 

By  Thomas  Wkntworth  Higginson.     With  Illustrations.     i2mo. 

379  pages.  $1.20.* 
The  ground  covered  may  be  seen  by  the  following  list  of  subjects  treated 
in  successive  chapters:  The  Legends  of  the  Norsemen,  Columbus  and  His 
Companions,  Cabot  and  Verrazzano,  The  Strange  Voyage  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca, 
The  French  in  Canada,  Adventures  of  De  Soto,  The  French  in  Florida, 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  The  Lost  Colonies  of  Virginia,  Unsuccessful  New 
England  Settlements,  Captain  John  Smith  in  Virginia,  Champlain  on  the 
War-path,  Henry  Hudson  and  the  New  Netherlands,  The  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth,  The  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony. 

*^^*  The  work  may  also  be  had  in  8  parts,  each  complete  in  itself,  with 
illustrations.     Price,  in  paper  covers,  each  part,  «<f/$o.i5. 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications. 


ENGLISH    HISTORY    AND    GOVERNMENT 


Gardiner — A  Student's  History  of  England. 

From  the  Earliest  Times  to  1885.  By  Samuel  Rawson  Gardiner, 
M.A.,  LL.D.  Illustrated  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  St.  John 
Hope,  Secretary  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  Complete  in  one 
volume.  With  378  Illustrations  and  full  Index.  Crown  8vo,  cloth, 
plain.     1095  pages.     $3.00* 

Or  separately : 

Vol.  I.  B.C.  55-A.D.  1509.  With  173  Illustrations  and  Index,  $1.20* 
Vol.    II.    1509-1689.     With  96  Illustrations  and  Index.  1.20* 

Vol.  III.    1689-1885.     With  109  Illustrations  and  Index.  1.20* 


%*  "  '  Gardiner's  Student's  History  of  England,'  through  Part  IX.,  will 
serve  to  indicate  the  amount  of  knowledge  demanded  for  entrance  to  college 
in  English  history. 

[Extract  from  T/ie  Harvard  University  Catalogue, '\ 

Professor    Henry     Ferguson, 

Trinity  College,  Hartford: — "It  is. 


in  my  opinion,  by  far  the  best  ad- 
vanced school  history  of  England 
that  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  clear, 
concise,  and  scientific  and,  at  the 
same  time,  attractive  and  interesting. 
The  illustrations  are  very  good  and 
a  valuable  addition  to  the  book,  as 
they  are  not  mere  pretty  pictures, 
but  of  real  historical  and  archceo- 
logical  interest." 

The  Nation,  New  York: — "A 
unique  feature  consists  of  the  very 
numerous  illustrations.  They  throw 
light  on  almost  every  phase  of  Eng- 
lish life  in  all  ages.  .  .  .  Never, 
perhaps,  in  such  a  treatise  has  pic- 
torial illustration  been  used  with  so 
good  effect.  The  alert  teacher  will 
find  here  ample  material  for  useful 
lessons  by  leading  the  pupil  to  draw 
the  proper  inferences  and  make  the 
proper  intrepretations  and  compari- 
sons. .  .  .  The  style  is  compact, 
vigorous,  and  interesting.  There  is 
no  lack  of  precision;  and,  in  the 
selection  of  the  details,  the  hand  of 


the  scholar  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  source  and  with  the  results  of 
recent  criticism  is  plainly  revealed." 


The  Churchman,  New  York: — 
"  It  is  illustrated  by  pictures  of  real 
value;  and  when  accompanied  by  the 
companion  '  Atlas  of  English  His- 
tory '  is  all  that  need  be  desired  for 
its  special  purpose," 

Critic,  New  York: — "If  we  do 
not  greatly  mistake,  this  History  of 
England  will  supplant  all  others  used 
as  text-books  in  schools  and  colleges. 
The  name  of  the  author  .... 
would  prepossess  anyone  in  its  favor, 
and  a  perusal  of  its  pages  only 
accentuates  the  feeling  that  here  at 
last  we  have  an  accurate,  succinct, 
and  entertaining  book,  fit  for  schools 
as  well  as  for  the  general  reader.  .  .  . 
The  illustrations,  a  notable  feature, 
,  .  .  are  not  the  old-fashioned  and 
hackneyed  ones  to  be  found  in  most 
so-called  illustrated  histories;  ,  .  . 
they  are  illustrative  of  the  text  and 
afiford  an  excellent  study  in  the 
manners  of  the  times," 


***  A  prospectus  and  specimen  pages  of  Gardiner  s  ' '  Student" s  History  of 
England^'  will  be  sent  on  application. 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications, 


Gardiner — An  Atlas  of  English  History. 

Edited  by  Samuel  Rawson   Gardiner,  M.A.,  LL.D.     66  colored 
Maps,  22  Plans  of  Battles,  etc.,  and  full  Index.     A  companion  Atlas 
to  Gardiner's  "  Student's  History  of  England."     Fcap.  4to.     $1.50.* 
This  Atlas  is  intended  to  serve  as  a  companion  to  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner's 
"  Student's  History  of  England."     In  addition  to  the  historical  maps  of  the 
British  Isles,  in  whole  or  in  part,  are  others  of  Continental  countries  or  dis- 
tricts which  were  the  scenes  of  events  connected  more  or  less  closely  with 
English  history.     In  addition  to  the  maps  is  a  series  of  plans  of  important 
battles  and  sieges. 


Professor  Edward   Channing, 

Harvard  University,  Cambridge, 
Mass. : — "  For  S.  R.  Gardiner's  Atlas 
I  have  nothing  but  praise.  The 
maps  contain  precisely  the  informa- 
tion a  student  most  desires.  They 
are  well  executed,  and  the  Index 
leaves  little  to  be  desired." 

Professor  Henry  Ferguson, 
Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Conn.: — 
"  It  is  a  very  real  pleasure  to  be  able 
to  express  one's  opinion  about  a 
work  as  well  conceived,  as  carefully 
prepared,  and  beautifully  executed, 
as  this  is.  It  will  be  of  the  greatest 
use  to  students  of  English  history, 
and  I  shall  be  glad  to  recommend  it 
most  earnestly." 

Professor  Charles  F.  Richard- 
son, Dartmouth  College,  Hanover, 


N.  H.: — "  Gardiner's  'Atlas  of  Eng- 
lish History'  is  altogether  the  best 
volume  of  the  sort." 

Professor  Eleanor  L.  Lord, 
Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass.: 
— "  ...  It  seems  to  me  ad- 
mirable and  comprehensive,  yet  free 
from  that  confusion  which  comes 
from  over- crowding  maps  with 
names.  I  am  sure  that  all  teachers 
and  students,  not  only  of  English 
but  also  of  European  history,  will 
find  the  atlas  of  the  greatest  value. 
I  shall  cordially  recommend  it  to  my 
own  classes." 

Professor  Richard  Hudson,  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.: — "  ...  It  has  already 
been  recommended  to  our  classes  in 
English  history." 


Preparatory  Questions  on  Gardiner's  Student's  History 
of  England. 


By    R.    Somervell,    M.A.,   Assistant    Master    of 
i2mo.     62  pages.     $0.35.* 


Harrow    School. 


Prof.  S.  B.  Harding,  Indiana 
University,  Bloomington,  Ind.: 
"The  work   is  well    done,  and   the 


book  should  prove  a  successful  aid 
to  young  students." 


Warner — English  History  in  Shakspeare's  Plays. 

By  Rev.  Beverley  E.  Warner.     Crown  8vo,  331  pages.     $1.75. 

In  use  as  a  text-book  in  Sophie  Newcomb  College,  New  Orleans,  La.; 
Kenyon  College,  Gambler,  Ohio;  Center  College,  Danville,  Ky. ;  and  other 
institutions. 

A  work  of  great  value  to  the  student  of  history,  showing  what  an  aid  to 
the  understanding  of  certain  important  phases  of  England's  national  devel- 
opment lies  in  these  historical  plays,  which  cover  a  period  of  three  hundred 
years — from  King  John  to  Henry  VIII. 


Longmans,  Green,  &-  Go's  Publications. 

READING  FOR  HISTORY  CLASSES. 
Burke — Speech  on  Conciliation  with  America. 

Edited,  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Albert  S.  Cook,  Ph.D., 
L.H.D.,  Professor  of  the  English  Lano^uage  and  Literature  in  Yale 
University,      With  Portrait  of  Burke.     Cloth,  $0.50;  boards,  $0.35. 

Doyle — Micah   Clarke. 

A  Tale  of  Monmouth's  Rebellion.  By  A.  Conan  Doyle,  Author  of 
"  The  Refugees,"  etc.  Abridged  and  adapted  for  School  Reading. 
With  Illustrations  by  H.  R.  Paget  and  H.  R.  Millar.  i2mo.  216 
pages.      $0. 50. 

Garrison — Parables  for  School  and  Home. 

By  Wendell  P.  Garrison,  With  21  Wood-cuts  by  Gustav  Kruell. 
i2mo,    cloth.       228   pages.     $1.25, 


Harvard  Graduates'  Maga- 
zine:—  "  This  is  a  book  of  unusual 
excellence.  Each  essay  has  one  or 
more  anecdotes,  which  ought  to 
teach  the  moral  the  writer  wishes 
to  convey.  Thus,  in  the  course  of 
the    book,  the   child    makes    the  ac- 


quaintance of  a  good  many  historical 
personages  ;  he  has  his  curiosity 
aroused  on  many  elementary  matters 
in  art  and  science,  and,  above  all, 
he  has  his  reason  constantly  appealed 
to.  .  .  .  It  cannot  fail  to  make 
a  deep  impression  for  good," 


Qomme — The  King's  Story  Book. 

Being  Historical  Stories  collected  out  of  English  Romantic  Literature 
in  illustration  of  the  Reigns  of  English  Monarchs  from  the  Conquest 
to  William  IV.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by  George  Laurence 
Gomme,  Photogravure  Frontispiece  and  21  Full-page  Illustrations. 
Crown  8vo.      Cloth,  extra,  gilt  top,     $2.00. 

Higginson — ^ Young  Folks'  Book  of  American  Explorers. 

By  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson.  With  Illustrations.  i2mo, 
cloth,  $1,20;  8  separate  parts  in  paper  covers,  each,  $0.15. 

Lang — The  Blue  True  Story  Book. 

Adapted  for  Use  in  Schools,  Containing  "  The  Story  of  Grace  Darling"; 
"An  Artist's  Adventure  ";  "  The  Tale  of  Rorke's  Drift  ";  "  The  Cheva- 
lier"; "  Johnstone's  Escape  ";  "The  Conquest  of  Montezuma's  Empire," 
and  other  Stories,     W^ith  22  Illustrations.      i2mo,     150  pages.    $0.50.* 

Lang— The  Red  True  Story  Book. 

Adapted  for  Use  in  Schools.  Containing  "Wilson's  Last  Fight"; 
"  The  Life  and  Death  of  Joan  the  Maid";  "  The  Conquest  of  Peru"; 
"  How  Marbot  Crossed  the  Danube,"  and  other  Stories.  With  4Z 
Illustrations.      186  pages.     $0.50.* 

Lodge — Boston. 

By  Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  {Historic  Towns.)  Second  Edition.  With 
2  Maps.      i2mo.     $1.25. 

Roosevelt — New  York. 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt.    With  3  Maps.    {Historic  Towns.)   i2mo. 

$1.25. 


DUE  ON    T 
/rpED  BI 


^.  LAST  DATE 


AN 


WILL  E) 

THIS   Buwis.   ON   THE   DATE   DUE.   THE   PENALTY 

WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 

DAY    AND    TO     $1.00    ON     THE    SEVENTH     DAY 

OVERDUE. 


OCT  B  1946 

SEP  39  1947 

■  3lVi''    ■   :, 

)  A  »,;  0  0  ^ 

M^  2  c.  f^;^  11 

\  ■ 

*^C(t  tn^    ,.g2 

' 

LD  21-100m-7,'40 (6936s) 


p 


/ 


%'^ 


Ao¥.,, 


